A facebook conversation on American-Russian relations in these tragic times

James F Schumaker‎American Embassy Moscow

2 hrs ·

Bipartisan support is building in Congress for arming Ukraine. My own feeling is that President Obama will have to go along eventually. Let's hope it's before Minsk-3 and the inevitable next round of Russian aggression against Ukraine.

Obama pressed on many fronts to arm Ukraine

The Obama administration is at war with itself over the question of arming Ukraine, with Defense Secretary Ashton Carter and key military leaders suggesting they would support a change of course. The Obama administration tried to up the ante on...

POLITICO.COM|BY JEREMY HERB

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  John Brown James -- With all due respect, as always, for your succinct prose and intellect: But, may I ask, have you really thought through the implications of the USA arming Ukraine? Some related thoughts: (1) How exactly will the USA "arm" (harm?) Ukraine? What kind of weapons are needed in this idiotic, mindless conflict? The U.S. Navy constantly "watching" /provoking the Russian fleet in the Black Sea? Will nuclear bombs be the "final solution"? (2) How will Americans -- we Americans are, after all, known for our provincialism and linguistic incompetence -- "train" Ukrainians? Should not training be the other way around? (3) The strongest anti-arming-argument, of course: the more we "harm" the Ukrainians, the more the Russians will "harm" them (4) The 20th-cent. Cold War is over. Slava bogu. Why start it all over again to "punish" an ex-KGB chinovnik who could be on his way out, given that his "pals" may decide, mafia-like, that he didn't deliver (granted, thanks to "Western" pressure). A war over a vulgar guy who shows off his "muscles" a la American tee-vee? Give me a break. ( 5) Our great country got stupidly involved, at enormous cost we can't afford, in regional conflicts (Afghanistan, Iraq) the outcome of which -- right now - was not in our national interests, especially given the enormous problems we face here at home. (6) Let's get real: After all, Russians look more into their refrigerators (rather than their television) -- I paraphrase a facebook entry, bright author of which I can't recall -- about what they'll eat for supper. Propaganda assaulted or not, Russians (like Americans) are not that stupid.

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