[TrumpCard]

That’s the great thing about counterfactuals. We can just assert them and no one can prove they’re wrong. The targeting of command/control and ammunition dumps gives the other side of the argument a plausible claim that the Donbas battle would have turned out differently with HIMARS, but we’ll never know. Stepping back from this one example, it seems obvious that Goose is right when he says it’s better strategy to execute a plan we think can win rather than execute a strategy to stop the other side’s ongoing/successful strategy. The only justification for the West’s strategy seems to be the lack of political will to do more.  But of course that can be a valid reason for not doing more. I’m not sure it’s correct to say that the West lacked the political support to provide HIMARS in March/April, but that’s plausible. If the West’s strategy is to ramp up only as more firepower is needed, I wonder where it stops.  Will we eventually get to the point where troops from NATO countries join the fight?  Even though Biden has said he won’t put American troops in Ukraine, it wouldn’t shock me to see some scenario where we have something akin to NATO country troops fighting.

[TrumpCard]

That’s the great thing about counterfactuals. We can just assert them and no one can prove they’re wrong. The targeting of command/control and ammunition dumps gives the other side of the argument a plausible claim that the Donbas battle would have turned out differently with HIMARS, but we’ll never know. Stepping back from this one example, it seems obvious that Goose is right when he says it’s better strategy to execute a plan we think can win rather than execute a strategy to stop the other side’s ongoing/successful strategy. The only justification for the West’s strategy seems to be the lack of political will to do more.  But of course that can be a valid reason for not doing more. I’m not sure it’s correct to say that the West lacked the political support to provide HIMARS in March/April, but that’s plausible. If the West’s strategy is to ramp up only as more firepower is needed, I wonder where it stops.  Will we eventually get to the point where troops from NATO countries join the fight?  Even though Biden has said he won’t put American troops in Ukraine, it wouldn’t shock me to see some scenario where we have something akin to NATO country troops fighting.