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World War III has officially begun, Ukraine’s ex-top general says (www.politico.eu)

submitted 1 month ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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"Because in 2024, Ukraine is no longer facing Russia. Soldiers from North Korea are standing in front of Ukraine. Let's be honest. Already in Ukraine, the Iranian 'Shahedis' are killing civilians absolutely openly, without any shame," said Zaluzhny, adding that North Korean and Chinese weapons are flying into Ukraine. Zaluzhny urged Ukraine's allies to draw the right conclusions. "It is still possible to stop it here, on the territory of Ukraine. But for some reason our partners do not want to understand this. It is obvious that Ukraine already has too many enemies. Ukraine will survive with technology, but it is not clear whether it can win this battle alone," he said.

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[–] WaxedWookie 1 points 1 month ago

Russia has torn up every agreement it's been party to.
Russia's preconditions for a diplomatic negotiation is Ukraine's total surrender (in the context of an invasion).
Russia is in no way entitled to attempt to forcefully annex Ukrainian territory.
Russia is in no way entitled to dictate what explicitly defensive strategic alliances its neighbours enter into.

With those simple facts in mind...

countless lives are being lost, and the suffering continues.

If the Ukrainians wish to resist (and they clearly do), that's their prerogative. It's strategically and morally correct for the US to help them resist.

The United States stands to benefit the longer this conflict persists

Correct - but that's an argument to continue to offer support not stop it.

(...)showing little interest in pursuing a path to peace.

By surrendering on Ukraine's behalf to get to the negotiation table to draw up another agreement that will inevitably be torn up? By stopping support and throwing to the bears? What would this look like to you?

While it positions itself as Ukraine's ally

By providing military support like an ally.

it simultaneously sends Ukraine into a prolonged struggle against a vastly larger adversary.

The US isn't sending Ukraine to war - it's giving Ukraine the means to defend itself from a war that's being waged on them - which it's doing.

This war arguably began in 2008, when NATO promised eventual membership to Ukraine and Georgia but failed to follow through.

2008? Wasn't that when Russia invaded Georgia? There's a pattern here... Refer to point 4 - what right does Russia have to invade a neighbor for entering an explicitly and historically defensive alliance? How did NATO start the war, exactly? They should have followed through, but that's beside the point.

Now, NATO appears to be watching from the sidelines as Ukraine fights on its behalf at the front lines.

...don't forget that Russia's aggression is driving more countries to join for obvious reasons. Intervention in this context isn't expected of/by NATO - it's a defensive alliance, and Ukraine isn't a member state - it's beyond their mandate. Such an intervention would be painted as reaching beyond a defensive posture, justifying a lot of Russia's nonsense, and arguably hostility, making it a questionable move that I'm not going to browbeat them for. In short, it would be diplomatically catastrophic.