As a born-and-raised New Yorker who survived the 9/11 attack on the Pentagon and then served as the J-2X for CJTF 180 in Afghanistan, I hang my head in shame over what is happening in New York City today.

This was a huge mistake.

Here's why I believe Ukraine was, and remains, such a threat to Vladimir #Putin: In 1989, Putin was a KGB officer in Dresden when the Berlin Wall fell and communism collapsed. How did that collapse happen? East Germans who were (illegally) watching West German TV saw that their neighbors to the West had a life, and lifestyle, far superior to the one in East Germany. More freedom. More income. More opportunities. Better quality of life. So, East Germans voted with their feet and fled. Putin soon experienced the collapse of East German firsthand. Today, Putin's worst nightmare is a #Ukraine that holds free and fair elections, and has a free media, human rights, freedom of speech and religion. Ukraine, Russia's neighbor, already has a higher standard of living than Russia. Ukraine has not yet reached its potential, but unlike #Russia, they've already made some significant strides in that direction. (Compare the respective trajectories of North and South Korea since 1970 if you want to see a historical precedent.) A successful #Ukraine is simply a ticking time bomb for an autocratic revanchist Tsar in the Kremlin, plain and simple. So yes, you could say that Ukraine was an existential threat to Putin's kleptocratic regime. But not for the absurd reasons the #Kremlin has claimed.

I will NEVER vote for another Republican candidate (or any other candidate) who fails to adequately support U.S. aid to Ukraine. I say this as a lifelong Republican. Supporting Ukraine to the point where it can finally expel all Russian invaders from every inch of Ukrainian soil needs to be a core objective of ANY U.S. president, regardless of political party. There are countless reasons why we need to support Ukraine in fully restoring its territorial integrity and sovereignty. Conversely, a failure to do so would not only be disastrous for Ukraine, it would create endless geopolitical problems for the U.S. and its allies -- and sooner, rather than later.

I can't believe I'm actually saying this, but I agree 100% with Erdogan. Ukraine deserves to have its territory returned to the full extent -- 1991 borders.

Absolutely correct.

Syrian father & son, who were maimed by #Russian missiles. (PS: Picture won the Siena International Foto Awards.) This is what Putin’s Satanic death cult gives to the world.

A B S O L U T E L Y

As an army of well dressed and grossly overpaid DC lawyers will confidently tell you, the 1994 Budapest Memorandum does not OBLIGATE us to come to Ukraine defense because it was not submitted to the Senate for ratification. That may be so, but the fact remains that we gave our word, and that used to mean something. Adequately supporting Ukraine would also be defending a nascent liberal democracy and sovereign country against an aggressive authoritarian neighbor, which also used to be part and parcel of our tradition. I’m embarrassed and ashamed by the tepid Biden and now Trump approaches to helping Ukraine. This is not who we are as Americans. Or at least it’s not how we used to be.

Give this man an F-16 painted in Ukrainian Air Force colors. No more hand wringing. No more excuses.

Please explain to me how the president of a country that was invaded by its neighbor “started” a war. This is a totally moronic statement.

You invaded #Ukraine, a sovereign, independent nation that posed NO military threat to #Russia whatsoever. If anyone in the world has Russophobia, you can thank yourselves for that. By the way: What we have in the civilized world isn't Russophobia, which means "fear of Russia". The truth is, nobody's afraid of you; in fact, the civilized world now laughs at you. Your vaunted armed forces are a joke, and your entire country is absolutely riddled with corruption from top to bottom.

Why wasn't Josef Goebbels Lavrov arrested the minute he set foot on U.S. soil? He a war criminal.

HELL YEAH

I'm a lifelong Republican. I'm sorry, but I won't vote for Donald #Trump in 2024. I just can't. His flippant, dismissive remarks about NATO and about letting Putin have his way in Europe were simply the last straw for me. To be honest, Trump is right to criticize NATO countries that have failed to meet their two percent of GDP defense spending commitment. But there are ways to criticize those countries' leaders, behind closed doors, that would have been far more effective than to make oafish, drunk-uncle-at-Thanksgiving remarks in a public setting. Worse, he does this sort of thing all the time. I don't want an octogenarian President. Certainly not Trump or Biden. I'm voting for Nikki #Haley. I'm confident that a Haley administration would Make America GOOD Again.

Let me put this in terms that a third grader can comprehend: 1. All of the 15 former Soviet republics became independent, sovereign nations when the Soviet Union dissolved. 2. Independent sovereign nations can choose, without outside interference, whether they wish to join NATO. 3. The incentive for these nations to join NATO is to gain protection from expansionist, ultra-nationalist leaders in Moscow. You're complaining about a problem that your own government created. Do better.

Yeah, it's great that we gave #Ukraine 31 M-1 Abrams tanks. But why only 31? We have literally hundreds of M-1 tanks that we could have already provided Ukraine. I have yet to hear a plausible explanation for why we have failed to do this. We need to help Ukraine achieve victory -- not just "hang in there" in an endless, bloody stalemate with Putin's conscripted hordes.

I will never support, or vote for, a candidate for president who is unwilling to adequately support #Ukraine as it fights off an unprovoked, unwarranted #Russian invasion. That's an absolute, non-negotiable litmus test for me. Ronald Reagan accurately called the former Soviet Union an evil empire in 1983; I'm confident he would describe Putin's Russian Federation the same way, for similar reasons.

I'm a lifelong Republican. Along with countless "Reagan Republicans," and like many other rational Americans, I fully support arming #Ukraine. Not only to the inexplicably half-hearted extent we've done so far, but to the extent necessary for Ukrainians to drive all Russian invaders out of their sovereign territory (including Crimea and all of Donbas) as soon as possible. Here's why: Vladimir #Putin hates the West in general and the United States in particular. (He always has.) Putin holds US intelligence services responsible for the collapse of the decrepit, bankrupt, and thoroughly corrupt Soviet Union. Today, Russian hackers meddle in our elections, penetrate our critical infrastructure, and use ransomware to rob us. This is Putin's Russia. Today, Putin's "best buds" are China's #XiJinping, North Korea's #KimJongUn, and the brutal mullahs that rule Iran. Aiding Ukraine enables us to counter Vladimir Putin at the cost of NO American lives and only five percent of our defense budget. Not less important as a reason for us to aid Ukraine is that Ukraine was a peaceful, sovereign country that was invaded and brutalized by an authoritarian regime that simply couldn't stomach the thought of an economically successful and politically free neighbor aligning itself with the West.

If you're an American citizen (and voter), please don't look at #Russia's war in #Ukraine through a partisan political optic. I'm a lifelong conservative #Republican, yet I fully support providing military and other aid to Ukraine. I support this because I believe helping Ukraine is consistent with our values as Americans, regardless of our party affiliation.

I have consistently voted for Republicans since 1976. But I will never vote for a candidate who opposes aid to Ukraine. I know many fellow Republicans share my view that #Putin’s Russia must be stopped.

So...what's the down side?

If you think standing by our allies is expensive… Wait until you see the cost of abandoning them.

I have a master's degree in Asian Studies/Chinese. I learned Mandarin Chinese, lived with Chinese people, was certified by the U.S. Army as a Foreign Area Officer (FAO) for China, served as a military attaché, and traveled to China several times. In other words, I know a thing or two about China and the Chinese. At the moment, China may be supporting Russia in its war on Ukraine, but make no mistake about Beijing's long-term intentions: If Russia collapses and dissolves (which is not impossible to imagine), the Chinese will very quickly seek to re-acquire the territories the Qing dynasty was forced to surrender to Tsarist Russia. You can absolutely count on that happening. Back in the 1950s and 1960s, in the days of Stalin, Krushchev, and Mao Zedong, the Soviet Union was far more powerful than agrarian China. Back then, Soviets were clearly the "outer spoon" in that "bromance." But today? The tables have turned; China is an economic and industrial powerhouse, and it is Russia that has become backward and weakened. Every Chinese school child is taught about the "Century of Humiliation" and the period of "Unequal Treaties." Unlike Americans and many Westerners, most of whom think about the future in terms of fiscal quarters, the Chinese think in terms of years and decades. Believe me when I tell you: The Russians KNOW all this. And it scares the 💩 out of them.

Is Vladimir #Putin a war criminal? Absolutely. And it’s not just for the kidnapping of thousands of Ukrainian children, either. In 2022, Russia bombed a very well-marked building in Mariupol that was filled with 600 Ukrainian refugees, killing hundreds of sheltering men, woman and children. “How could Russia do this?” people asked at the time. The truth is, when the Russian military strikes civilian targets and medical facilities, it’s not a slip-up; it’s strategy. Russian missile, bomb, and artillery strikes on populated civilian centers in #Ukraine should surprise no one. These are not mistakes, the result of faulty guidance systems, or due to operator error. These are overwhelmingly willful and intentional strikes on noncombatants – a war crime. Furthermore, Russia has been perpetrating strikes like this in Syria for close to a decade now. Russia’s September 2015 military deployment to #Syria largely consisted of air assets accompanied by a comparatively small ground force contingent. This deployment coincided with the alarming expansion of ISIS in eastern Syria and northern Iraq. Although Russia would repeatedly claim that the majority of its air strikes were on legitimate military targets in ISIS-controlled areas, this was, in fact, a bald-faced lie. In fact, Russian aircraft repeatedly and systematically targeted underground medical facilities in Syrian rebel-held areas far from where ISIS held sway. In October of 2019, the New York Times published a very detailed recounting of those strikes. The NGO Physicians for Human Rights asserted that Russian or Syrian government forces called out at least 244 attacks on health care facilities in Syria. Bombing civilians and hospitals is a war crime, yet Vladimir Putin’s armed forces have been committing war crimes in Syria for eight years now. nytimes.com/video/world/midd… newlinesmag.com/newsletter/r…

Ah, but we DO have a peace proposal: 1. Russian armed forces immediately withdraw, completely, from all Ukrainian territory (including Crimea, which Russia illegally stole from Ukraine in 2014) 2. Russia lives up to its 1994 pledge (contained in the Budapest Memorandum) to respect Ukraine's sovereignty 3. Russia pays war reparations to Ukraine 4. The entire Putin regime resigns and makes themselves available for trial at the The Hague I like this proposal WAY more than I like yours. (I think some folks agree with me on this, too.)

I saw "20 Days in Mariupol" last night. Sobering, serious movie. Here's just a few takeaways from watching that film: - Russia claims it doesn't target civilians. It's a lie. - Russia claims it wants to protect Russian speakers/ethnic Russians. It's also a lie. - Russia claims it is acting on behalf of the people in the areas it is "liberating". You guessed it -- another lie. If a Russian government official is talking, he (or she) is lying. You can take that to the bank.

I understand #Putin absolutely hates pictures that depict him like this. Be a damned shame if it got liked or retweeted.

Cucker Tarlson is a massive embarrassment. I’m ashamed to admit he is a fellow American.

Allegedly, Putin’s greatest fear is to end his days like Muammar Qaddafi, who was overthrown in 2011 and then captured by Libyan rebels who killed him and publicly desecrated his body. A more appropriate fear, though, would be for Putin to end up like Nicolae Ceaușescu, another autocratic leader who wielded absolute power for years in Romania until he was suddenly arrested and executed by a firing squad on Christmas Day, 1989. 6/7

And 12 minutes after launching any nukes at the UK, the Russian Federation ceases to exist. So unless you’re suicidal, Дима, you might want to rethink making idle, rabid threats in public. Now, stop drinking and go put some pants on before Momma comes home.

Sink them too.

If the Ukrainians really did manage to take out this Russian Space Tracking and Communications Center, that's a REALLY. BIG. DEAL. Putin and his kleptocrat bonzes don't give a damn about losing hundreds of thousands of mindless meat puppets, but material losses like this hurt a LOT. So. how's that three-day SMO working out for you now, #Putin?

40% of #Russia does not have indoor toilets, but the Kremlin always has money for advanced weapons. Funny how that works. eurasiantimes.com/russia-pla…

Merry Christmas!

To be clear: I don't hate #Russia, or Russians. Not at all! I have been to Russia, I have a Russian wife, and a Ukrainian daughter (both now US citizens). I have many friends and family in both #Ukraine and #Russia. When I hear Russian friends speak today, I am alarmed to hear the same recurring themes about Russian victimhood, how Russia is threatened by NATO, how the West wants to destroy Russia. These are otherwise intelligent people who didn't come up with these themes themselves; they're just parroting back talking points that have been central to Putin's relentless propaganda for DECADES. What Putin has done to Russia since 2000 is what Hitler did to Germany in the 1930s. Russian domestic propaganda is not only insidious, but indisputably effective. Thanks to the influence of Kremlin propaganda, this is not just Vladimir Putin's war; it is the Russian people's war.

Sigh. Allow me to explain this in the simplest terms possible -- terms that even a second-grader would understand: 1. There was no written agreement stating NATO would not expand. 2. Even Mikhail Gorbachev acknowledged this. 3. The reason former Warsaw Pact countries clamored to join NATO is because they did not want to run the risk of being overrun or dominated by the Kremlin again. In short, this is a problem of your own making, folks.

I am a former Army interrogator. (I did my fair share of interrogations in Afghanistan.) I can tell you without hesitation that one of the most effective ways to get a prisoner of war or detainee to cooperate is to treat that person decently, like a human being. This is an especially effective approach when he has been told he would be tortured or killed if captured. This is not always true, of course; your prisoner might be some fanatical High Value Target (HVT) who is highly motivated and psychologically prepared for this experience with you. But the Ukrainian Armed Forces are not fighting Al Qaida fanatics -- they're largely fighting Russian conscripts and soldiers who have been relentlessly abused and treated like shit by their leaders and expect similar treatment from YOU. Truth is, in those circumstances, you'll gain more with a smile, a bottle of water, a cigarette, or a chocolate bar than you can imagine. Read about Hanns Joachim Scharff, a German Luftwaffe NCO in World War II whose unorthodox interrogation methods not only yielded voluminous amounts of intelligence, but also resulted in the U.S. military adopting his approaches after the war.

I've been voting for #Republican presidential candidates since 1976, but I simply cannot vote for any presidential candidate in 2024 who does not support continuing our vital aid to #Ukraine. Standing up for fellow democracies against totalitarian invaders is what we do as Americans. Ukraine deserves our support.

Russian mercenaries accused of raping and killing 500 civilians in Mali. The most alarming part of a story like this is the fact that it will surprise absolutely NO ONE. theguardian.com/world/2023/m…

Ukrainian 🇺🇦forces conducted a daring snatch-and-grab to capture a Russian 🇷🇺T-72B3M electronic warfare tank containing a heap of anti-drone radio jammers — and then successfully used it against the Russians. 👍👍👍 Nice! search.app/hyUvAWZRa93e5fXX6

STOP whatever it is you're doing, pour yourself a cup of coffee, and then Google "Ukraine" and "Spiderweb." History was made today. Ukrainian drones apparently struck four separate Russian strategic bomber bases, taking out (allegedly) 40 Russian strategic aircraft, to include A-50, Tu-95, and Tu-22M3 bombers. That’s over $2 billion in losses for Russia of critically-important aircraft (which, by the way, are no longer in production.) Russian bases struck include: - Belaya (4700 km from Ukraine) - Dyagilevo (700 km) - Olenya (2000 km) - Ivanovo (900 km) Ukraine launched drones in swarms from cargo trucks. Russia sends missiles and drones against Ukraine's civilian population centers. By contrast, Ukraine targets Russian strategic assets.

A lot of prominent former US military officers and others are now suggesting that #Ukraine cannot succeed in driving #Russian troops out of the country. I respectfully disagree with those assertions. I'm not a former general, but I did spend a 30-year-long career in human intelligence and psychological operations. I believe that the most important battlespace in Ukraine right now is not land, sea, air, space, or cyber; it is the human mind. It is human cognition. Ukrainians are fighting an existential battle to save their country -- their land, their homes, their families. Their motivation is high. By contrast, Russian troops are poorly-led, poorly-trained, poorly-equipped, poorly-supplied, and poorly motivated. Ukraine was not the three-day-long cake walk that they were told to expect; not at all. Look at Russian history; it is replete with instances where Russian defenders fought tooth-and-nail in this or that battle. It is also filled with instances where Russian troops folded and ran. You have to look at the circumstances to understand why Russian troops fought well or didn't. One must take into account some of the intangibles (like the ones I listed) in each case. Look at how Russians themselves talk about the war on Telegram; there is open discussion by prominent bloggers about the possibility of Russia losing this war.

Sergei Kaput

Every #Chinese schoolchild and adult citizen knows how Tsarist Russia exploited Chinese weakness and seized Chinese territory in the 1858 Treaty of Aigun and the 1860 Treaty of Peking, two “Unequal Treaties” that Tsarist Russia imposed on the decrepit Qing Dynasty. This lost area, known as Приаму́рье to the #Russians and Wài Mǎnzhōu (Outer Manchuria) to the Chinese, includes such key Russian Federation cities as Khabarovsk and the port city of Vladivostok. Originally established by Chinese in around 600AD, Vladivostok (pop. 600K) still has a significant Chinese minority. Just as Tsarist Russia wanted Vladivostok to serve as the base for its Pacific Fleet, at this point in time maritime trade giant China would stand to benefit from Vladivostok’s direct access to the Sea of Japan. Prior to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, there was probably little chance that China’s leaders would seriously consider attempting to regain lost territories. But Russia’s demonstrated military shortcomings and economic weakness could indeed prompt China’s leadership to dust off old maps and contemplate scenarios and circumstances in which the recovery of lost territories could be attempted. If you don’t think Moscow is concerned about this – think again.

It's time for NATO countries to start providing F-16s, and for former NATO F-16 pilots to sign up with the #Ukraine Air Force to fly missions. The West needs to make a decision: To continue giving Ukraine enough not to lose, or give Ukraine the weapons, ammunition, and other support required to finally eject Russian invaders out of Ukraine completely. thedrive.com/the-war-zone/fo…

Why the U.S. didn’t provide #Ukraine with many more M-2 Bradleys than we did is an utter mystery to me. 40-year-old, combat-proven technology successfully goes toe-to-toe with the best equipment the #Russian army has in the field today. forbes.com/sites/davidaxe/20…

Making Putin wait for a meeting is a HUGE slap in the face to the little man with a huge ego. #Putin used to routinely make Western leaders wait for hours before meeting with them. (This was a well-known ploy he used to assert his dominance.) Having to now wait for a meeting with a foreign leader must be absolutely infuriating to Putin. Good.

Womp-womp 🎺

The #Russian way of waging war is simply barbaric. Intentionally targeting residential areas, raping, looting, murdering POWs, kidnapping thousands of #Ukrainian children, and “double tapping” medical facilities (an art they perfected in Syria). Now they’re targeting food supplies. Why is Russia still on the UN Security Council? Why isn’t it kicked out of the UN entirely for its systematic barbarism? Vladimir #Putin may be in charge (for now), but he is a PRODUCT (rather than the creator) of the sick, imperialist Russian “culture” that perpetrates these war crimes on a literally daily basis.

NO ONE ever promised that NATO would not expand eastward. NO ONE. Even Gorbachev acknowledged this before he died. NO ONE lies with the frequency and ease of the Russian government. NO ONE.

Russian soldiers refused to fight? If this is true, this will be significant. Word spreads fast, and other Russian soldiers in other places along the front will soon figure out that if the 328th and 104th could balk and get away with it, they can, too. It is worth remembering that the brightest and best of the Russian military was squandered in 2022, so now a sizeable percentage of Russian "soldiers" are "hey-you" conscripts who received minimal training, were issued shoddy equipment, are led by inept and indifferent officers, and are frequently threatened with being shot if they retreat. This could be a "1918 moment" for the Russian military. 🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿

No, I respectfully disagree. There are no "both sides" in a war like this. One side (Russia) launched an unprovoked, unwarranted, and unjustified invasion of another country (Ukraine). We need to do what it takes to help Ukraine WIN its existential struggle against Vladimir Putin's regime.

On Twitter, I usually talk about Russia and Ukraine, but for a moment I'd like to talk about #China. I have a graduate degree in Asian Studies/Chinese, I speak Chinese, I've been to China multiple times, and the Army certified me as a Foreign Area Officer (FAO) for China. I spent a lot of my 30-year-long career in the intelligence community looking at China. Bottom line: We have a problem with China. A big one. We normalized relations with China in 1979. Since the early 1980s, American and multinational businesses couldn't resist the sizeable profits to be made by outsourcing their production operations to China. In so doing, they slowly but steadily enabled China to become the world's manufacturing hub. This, coupled with China's systematic and profligate theft of intellectual property has turned once-backward China into a global economic juggernaut whose GDP will surpass that of the US (if it hasn't already). There are 195 countries in the world, but fully half of all FBI counterintelligence cases involve China. Every 10 days, the FBI opens a new counterintelligence investigation against a Chinese individual or entity. Chinese economic espionage is a massive problem in and of itself. Before we can even contemplate fixing the problem, we first need to accept -- as a nation -- that we HAVE a problem, understand the nature and scope of the problem, and then deal with it in a sober, realistic, determined, and bipartisan manner.

Why don't you just STAY in Moscow, and do us all a favor.

1. 2007 - Russia conducted the world's first cyber war against Estonia 2. 2008 - Russia waged a five-day-long war against Georgia, seizing (and still occupying) 20% of Georgian territory (Abkhazia and South Ossetia) 3. 2014 - Russia seized Crimea and launched a not-so-covert war in Donbas, with Russian special forces and intelligence personnel (GRU) supporting so-called "separatists" 4. 2015 - Russia deployed military forces to Syria, allegedly to fight ISIS, but instead spent most of their time bombing anti-Assad fighters elsewhere in the country, and conducting precision-guided munition attacks on 50+ underground medical facilities 5. 2022 - Russia invaded Ukraine in a "special military operation" that Putin's corrupt GRU and SVR told him would last three days. Russian soldiers have committed countless war crimes and the Russian military has targeted civilian areas of the country. On top of all the things that Putin's Russia has done, take a look at what Putin (and others in Russia) have said and written about Ukraine, and about their plans and intentions beyond Ukraine. Vladimir Putin is Hitler 2.0. We can either help Ukraine to stop Putin now, or we can fight him directly later on -- at much greater cost in money and lives.

Did you know that there is a MASSIVE ammunition depot, believed to be one of the largest in Europe (if not the largest), located in Cobasna, which is right smack on the Transdnistrian border with Ukraine? (You know, artillery ammunition starved Ukraine.) That ammunition depot stores an estimated 20,000 tons of Cold War-era ammunition from not only the Soviets’ own 14th Guards Army but also from former Warsaw Pact allies Czechoslovakia and East Germany. Be a damned shame for the Russians if the Ukrainians somehow got ahold of all that ammunition. (2/2)

President #Biden needs to effectively make the case to the American people for supporting #Ukraine. I say this as a lifelong Republican and as someone who fully supports what we have been doing to aid Ukraine. Responsible Republican leaders need to also step up and make this case far more effectively than they have done thus far. Vladimir #Putin and #Russian expansionism must be stopped. It's really that simple.

The more #Putin and his buddies (China's #XiJinping, Brazil's #Lula da Silva) express the need to negotiate, the more you realize how terrified the Russians are of the looming Ukrainian offensive. And for good reason. The sky has turned black, there's lightning on the horizon, and there is a real shitstorm coming their way.

"Putin will not stop until he is stopped." Just like Hitler. Just like any rabid dog in the neighborhood. We can stop him now by adequately supplying Ukraine, or we can stop him later during a direct conflict between Russia and NATO. I know which I would choose...

I’ve been watching and studying Vladimir Putin for almost a quarter century now. I understand (as much as any foreigner can…) how he thinks, how he operates. I also know the huge role that information operations (IO) plays, and has played, in Russia for the past 100 years. The truth is, my irritation over the Tucker Carlson interview has far more to do with Vladimir #Putin than it does with Tucker #Carlson. At the moment, the #Russian government is doing a full-court press to get the West to abandon #Ukraine. They’re messaging us via social media, through the mainstream media, and through other “friends” they have in the West. Having a friendly foreign media person like Tucker Carlson give Putin a megaphone to broadcast directly to target audiences in the U.S. (and elsewhere) is an absolute wet dream for Putin. Putin knows who Carlson’s followers are. He knows how they already think, and what they already believe. He’s savvy enough to know how to leverage that knowledge and message American voters in ways that will resonate with them. This is not an interview in the sense we understand it. The truth is, there is no free, independent media in Russia. It simply doesn’t exist. It did exist when Putin took over in 2000, but ever since the Kursk debacle he and his coterie have systematically rid themselves of pesky journalists. The news media in Russia is nothing more than a tool for domestic propaganda. And two actual American journalists are now languishing in Russian jails.

What ruble doing?

So, just to provide some context for Brazilian President Lula's advocacy of peace talks: 1. Russia invades Ukraine, expecting to overrun Kyiv and replace the government in three days 2. The Russian armed forces utterly fail to achieve their strategic objectives 3. The Russian armed forces fail to make significant territorial gains during their winter offensive 4. Despite throwing massive numbers of conscripts into the fray, the Russian offensive culminates at Bakhmut, in the process losing tremendous numbers of troops and quantities of equipment 5. Facing an expected spring offensive by highly motivated, well-trained, and well-equipped Ukrainian forces, Russia decides that NOW would be a pretty good time to negotiate a deal (to let them keep what they've stolen) 6. Russia enlists its BRICS partners (like Brazilian President Lula) to push for peace talks

#Russian culture is absolutely Satanic. I'm sorry, but there's no way to sugar-coat this unfortunate, and blatantly obvious, truth. When a Russian Orthodox Priest talks publicly about the need to "burn out Ukrainians" with Solntsepyok (a horrendous piece of military equipment, by the way) and to "cut their throats" (referring to Ukrainians), this is just the latest in a never-ending list of jaw-dropping Russian statements and behaviors. There used to be a DC comic book that talked about Bizarro World, where everything in that world was the opposite of what exists on earth. #Russia is truly Bizarro World, but in reality: Russian government officials lie with stunning regularity. Russian disinformation floods social and traditional media with endless lies. Russian troops and mercenaries released from prison commit one war crime after another. Putin orders missile strikes on residential areas and then has photographers capture images of him lighting candles in church. The list goes on... The West needs to do absolutely all it can to not only ensure that Ukraine drives off the barbaric, genocidal Russian invaders as soon as possible, but that Russia's inevitable defeat results in the collapse of the #Putin regime.

I'm a lifelong Republican; I first voted for Gerald Ford in 1976. However...today I'm extremely concerned that both Trump and Vance are willing to throw Ukraine to the wolves and reward Vladimir Putin for his invasion and occupation of eastern Ukraine. Anyone who has ever read a history book knows that you don't reward neighborhood bullies or expansionistic autocrats. In my view, we either help Ukraine help themselves to fight off Russian genocide NOW, or we find ourselves in a war with Russia later on due to our Article 5 commitment to the defense of our fellow NATO partners. #RussiaIsATerroristState

There is no excuse for our failure to provide #Ukraine with more M-2 Bradley fighting vehicles. None.

Real #Republicans fully support US aid to #Ukraine. I've been a Republican voter since 1976, and I stand 100% behind Ukraine. #Putin's Russia is no less evil and imperialist than the Soviet Union was. In 1983, Reagan called the Soviet Union an "evil empire" for a reason. I know a lot of fellow Republicans feel the same way. #ReaganRepublican

The only time in NATO's history that Article 5 was ever invoked was in the wake of 9/11, and the U.S. is the country that invoked it. After 9/11, we had Norwegian pilots in their F-16s flying combat air patrols (CAP) over Washington, DC. We had AWACS aircraft (with their European crews) come over from Luxembourg and fly aerial surveillance missions out of Tinker AFB. NATO is the only thing that keeps Russia out of the Baltics, Poland, and other countries in Eastern Europe. Trump was right to criticize NATO countries for not living up to their 2% of GDP commitment, but he's dead wrong if he thinks it is a good idea for the U.S. to withdraw from NATO.

The U.S. should have two goals with respect to Ukraine: 1. Expulsion of all #Russian invaders from every square inch of Ukrainian territory (including Crimea); 2. Admission of #Ukraine into NATO. Everything we do needs to be in support of achieving these two objectives.

If the Russians actually did attempt to assassinate Zelensky, they might want to rethink that strategy. In 1949, Stalin arranged several assassination attempts on the leader of Yugoslavia, Josip Broz Tito. In response, Tito wrote Stalin a letter: “Stop sending people to kill me. We’ve already captured five of them. If you don’t stop sending killers, I’ll send one to Moscow, and I won’t have to send a second.”

Nah, that's NOT the reason. You stupidly decided to invade #Ukraine last February. That's the reason the US (and most of the civilized world) treats #Russia like a pariah, like you're North Korea. So, how'd that three-day-long "Special Military Operation" work out for you? Thousands and thousands and thousands of dead and maimed Russian soldiers, hundreds of thousands more who fled Russia to avoid conscription, failed ground offensives... The aura of Russian invincibility has gone right out the window. But yeah, blame the US for your own colossal stupidity.

Now that #Putin realizes he’s captured as much Ukrainian territory as he’s reasonably capable of capturing, he proposes negotiations. (Of course!) There is no point in negotiating with Putin, and no reason to reward Russian aggression with Ukrainian soil. search.app/WzzKEp2CXQZaPqJFA

Russia must be designated a state sponsor of terrorism. #RussiaIsATerroristState

Glad you’ve restored the Crimea Bridge! You’re gonna need it soon to evacuate.

Allow me to reiterate, for the 1,247th time: We may not (yet) be at war with the Russian Federation, but the Russian Federation is -- and has been -- at war with us for years. It would be nice if our leaders in the West would grow a pair and respond appropriately.

The real value of the Mirage 2000-5 fighter jets France donated to Ukraine is their ability to launch Storm Shadow missiles. search.app/4LAWs6tC7GuyEJNw6

Way to go, Greece! 🇬🇷

This is the real problem with Russia; as much as the civilized world loathes Vladimir #Putin, the sad, troublesome truth is that he could disappear from the face of the earth tomorrow, along with his entire kleptocratic regime, and #Russia would STILL be a significant problem for its neighbors and the civilized world because of its malignant national culture. Look at the significant effort the West had to undertake, for decades, to transform German and Japanese malignant cultures after World War II: In those cases, the West was able to successfully eradicate Nazism in Germany and imperialism in Japan because the Allies were the victors and occupiers of those two countries after the Second World War. By contrast, when the Soviet Union finally collapsed under its own weight in 1991, Communist Party leaders simply tossed aside their party pins, threw on business suits, and overnight became "managers". Over time, the shrewdest and most unscrupulous in Russia became billionaire kleptocrats. After 1991, there were no arrests, no Nuremberg tribunals...nothing. No one was held accountable for 70+ years of communism. Neither the West nor Ukraine is going to occupy the Russian Federation (or what's left of it) after this war ends. That means the task of finally coming to grips with the past, and with all the poisonous aspects of their culture, is not going to be imposed on Russia by victorious foreigners. Instead, that is going to be a task for the Russian people to do THEMSELVES. But here's the problem: For the past 23 years, Putin's authoritarian regime managed to drive all serious political opponents into exile, jail them, or very publicly kill them (as a lesson to other foolhardy souls contemplating political reform). So who is going to LEAD this necessary oncological procedure, to eliminate the malignant cancer that has infected Russia's national culture for centuries? When Putin finally goes, I suspect there will be one or two interim figures before Russia finally gets a leader who has a shot at righting the ship. But who will that person be? Whoever it is, that person will certainly have a tough road ahead of him (or her).

I'm genuinely curious what lame excuses the Biden Administration has now for refusing to provide Ukraine with ATACMS and F-16s. This is really inexcusable. Every single U.S. ground offensive since World War II has begun with aircraft bombarding enemy positions. (There's a reason for that.) Not having air superiority makes the Ukrainians' ground offensive far more difficult, time-consuming, and costly in terms of men and materials.

“Instead of hearing and understanding Russia’s key demands…” 1. We understand Russia. We do. 2. That’s why we don’t pay any attention at all to your demands 3. Here are OUR demands: - Stop invading and harassing your neighbors. - Get your genocidal orcs out of Ukraine. - Stop harassing, jailing, and murdering political opponents to Putin. - Stop assassinating folks overseas. - Finally: Go f*** yourselves

Hey, Russia: If you really want to see the West lower its arms deliveries to Ukraine, maybe you could just declare victory, turn around, and go home? You brought this on yourself. YOU did. Maybe launching a genocidal war of extermination against a sovereign neighboring country wasn’t such a good idea, huh?

“close observers of Ukraine’s military actions against Russia & its assets have said four highly valued fighter jets that were destroyed or seriously damaged at a base in Western Russia late Saturday were the victims of Australian drones made of cardboard” dronedj.com/2023/08/30/aussi…

It's a damned shame we didn't provide Ukraine with many more M-1 Abrams tanks and M-2 Bradley IFVs. Even in cases where Bradleys were disabled on the battlefield, its soldiers managed to survive.

These are the far right political parties supported and funded by Russia. There are also political parties on the far left that are supported by Moscow as well.

This is NOT a good time for #Ukraine to negotiate with #Russia. #Putin knows Russia has captured all it could ever capture in Ukraine, so this is the optimal time for HIM to say, “Okay, let’s negotiate.” Ukraine needs to counterattack and humiliate Russia and Putin, and negotiate with Russia at a time of its own choosing later.

Give. Ukraine. The. Tools.

You may be wondering why Russia is harassing Denmark with drones. Take a look at the route Russian ghost fleet freighters have to take to ship out their crude oil, and you'll understand immediately why Denmark is in the Kremlin's crosshairs.

Putin hoped for a speedy victory; instead, there are now foreign tanks on Russian soil for the first time since the Nazi invasion in 1941. LOL 😂 search.app/VK2LHjWwRy55tWgV7

I would strongly support Berlin sending these folks back to Russia on a one-way ticket.

Russia's defense minister ordered officials to prepare a “response” to U.S. drone flights over the Black Sea, the ministry said Friday. F***ing around with U.S. drones operating in international airspace would NOT be wise, #Russia. search.app/MAY5R68g1uFtv8249

This Twitter user is lying. NATO was created to protect its members from being attacked and gobbled up by the former Soviet Union. It was not devised to destroy anything. In 2022, #Putin’s Russia invaded and attempted to eliminate a sovereign, independent nation — a neighbor whose borders #Russia agreed in writing to respect when it signed the 1994 Budapest Memorandum. Russia is a meddling, expansionistic power that cannot be trusted to keep its word. That’s an unfortunate, but indisputable, fact.

THIS 👇

I look forward to the day when this bridge is blown to smithereens.

Idiotic statements like this make me embarrassed to have been a lifelong Republican.

Ukraine’s Valley Forge Moment. “Ukrainians are no more inclined to give up than Americans were in 1777-1778.” It’s who they are. As long as Ukrainians are willing to find and die for their freedoms, we should support them. It’s who WE are. cepa.org/article/ukraines-va…

Russia's NOT going to escalate, folks. It's just not. Do you seriously think that #Putin and his pals are going to commit suicide by either expanding the conflict to attack NATO, or by using nuclear weapons in #Ukraine? No. It's just NOT gonna happen. Like most dumb animals in nature, the #Russian military has adapted: They've learned to back their CPs and depots out of HIMARs range. What the West needs to do now is provide Ukraine with longer-range ATACMS, to push that boundary of death and destruction out from 80km to 300km. Ukraine has done remarkably well with the limited capabilities we've provided to Kyiv thus far. They've not only successfully survived the Russian onslaught, Ukraine's armed forces now stand poised to deliver a devastating counterattack. We need to provide Ukraine with the proper tools it needs to finish the job. We can start with ATACMS.

Under Vladimir Putin, Russia IS always the bad guy. Always.

I've been a Republican my entire life, but if the Republican Party fails to adequately support Ukraine in defending itself from Russia's invading hordes, I'm done.

Why haven’t we made more M-2 Bradley fighting vehicles available to Ukraine 🇺🇦 over the past two years? We can’t claim they weren’t available; we had 500 sitting around that we were able to provide to Morocco, a country that is not embroiled in an existential struggle with a genocidal invader. So what’s our excuse?