"Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat."
Exactly Chas!Sun Tzu again, when obsession with tactics is used to substitute for a complete absence of any sane or coherent strategy - The End is Close (Sun Tzu of course said it better)On Mon, Jan 30, 2023 at 9:25 AM Chas Freeman <cwfresidence@gmail.com> wrote:Some or all of those factors are certainly in play. But one other important aspect of what they're up to is rakeoffs from arms deals and the accumulation of wealth while they can get it. Another is identification with the West and repudiation of their Soviet past -- as you put it, becoming "an ersatz member of the West." And yet another is magical thinking -- faith that Western technology can somehow bring off a miracle. Finally, don't forget that every arms manufacturer in the world is making a major sales effort in Ukraine.On Mon, Jan 30, 2023 at 9:17 AM Winslow T. Wheeler <WinslowWheeler@msn.com> wrote:What exactly are the Ukrainians up to? Their problem is on the battlefield now, not when all this complex new equipment is delivered in any meaningful numbers (which may be never) or when they learn to adequately support and maintain it (which is very likely to be never). Were they to demand former Soviet tanks, SAMs and aircraft (still piles of it all out there) which they know how to operate and support, that would make much more sense. This continuum of western technology wants certainly is more of a political exercise, but to what end? More of making Ukraine an ersatz member of the West? To make the introduction of NATO forces more likely if the upcoming Russian offensive is successful and the warnings we hear of the Ukrainian forces now being spent turn out to be true? (Some real signs of that.) Locking in Western support via the new sales and replenishments that Western manufacturers are enjoying and their implied support for the political system to "keep it up?"The continuation of this war is as ugly as its origin.----- Original Message -----From: Chas Freeman via SalonSent: Sunday, January 29, 2023 9:55 AMSubject: [Salon] Pentagon being lobbied for F-16s to Ukraine – Politico--
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