05-26-2024, 04:54 PM
(05-26-2024, 02:48 PM)TrumpCard Wrote: (5) If you're saying that the U.S. or West should have sent troops to defend Ukraine pre-2014, then I agree, but those were very different political times. Obama was attempting a "re-set" with Russia. Bush was tied up in two major conflicts for most of his presidency. Before the Iraq War went south, Ukraine was run by a pro-Russian strongman who would not have accepted Western troops even if we wanted to put them there. Before that, Yeltsin was trying to move Russia towards a more friendly relationship with the West and we weren't about to undermine him by putting troops directly on his border. In sum, a 2024 peace treaty would be the most logical time since the Fall of the Soviet Union for the U.S. or the West to put troops in Ukraine.It might be the most logical time, but the US should never put troops into a country whose defense is not considered in the "vital interest" of the US. Right now, we clearly don't believe that a free Ukrainian state is in our "vital interest", at least not vital enough to actually fight for. I am not arguing here that it is in our vital interest. I am simply stating that right now the US president, the US congress, and the US military do not believe it is. Ukraine knows this and Russia knows this.