FINISH it. Plan for a post Putin future in Russia; Build on the 1 billion in weapons infusion to Ukraine and free the people of Ukraine and Russia
No more of the garbage can reasoning by the Macrons of Europe seeking not to humiliate Vladimir Putin, or the Rand Paul style US Senate "restrainers" whom never met a Putin action they did not approve. It is time to first of all build on the 1 billion USD weapon infusion and to plan for a complete liberation of the occupied territories of Ukraine, as well as the entire Russian Federation from the stench of Vladimir Putin. i.e. we had a chance earlier to do it, right, and instead merely enraged Russians of all stripes in 1996 by backing the then morally bankrupt Boris?Nikolayevich Yeltsin, whom arguably was a Russian crime family mobster in his own right, which made made man Vladimir Putin as boss of bosses of the Russian mafia inevitable. We wound up backing Russian organized criminals in the 1990s in our quest to frustrate a challenge by a Russian communist party, for Presidency of the Russian Federation. Now we need to not consign the Russian Federation to the Russian mafia.
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No matter how high or low the probability, we should try everything to increase its likelihood. Because the alternatives are worse. A permanently humiliated Russia remains aggressive and would become even more so.
The Russian people aren't the Russian regime of today. Russia is a nation of culture. A country with raw-material resources we'd rather have on our side than against us.
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LETS DO IT. AIM HIGH
https://www.reuters.com/world/white-house-expected-announce-around-1-bln-of-weapons-ukraine-sources-2022-06-15/
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Biden announces new $1 bln in weapons for Ukraine, Kyiv seeks more heavy arms
By?Mike Stone
?and?Humeyra Pamuk
WASHINGTON, June 15 (Reuters) - President Joe Biden on Wednesday announced a fresh U.S. infusion of $1 billion in weapons for Ukraine that includes anti-ship rocket systems, artillery rockets, howitzers and ammunition.
In a phone call with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Biden said he told the embattled leader about the new weaponry.
"The United States is providing another $1 billion in security assistance for Ukraine, including additional artillery and coastal defense weapons, as well as ammunition for the artillery and advanced rocket systems," Biden said in a statement after the 41-minute call.
The president also announced an additional $225 million in humanitarian assistance to help people in Ukraine, including by supplying safe drinking water, critical medical supplies and healthcare, food, shelter, and cash for families to purchase essential items.
The latest weapons packages for Ukraine include 18 howitzers, 36,000 rounds of ammunition for them, two Harpoon coastal defense systems, artillery rockets, secure radios, thousands of night vision devices and funding for training, the Pentagon said.
In Kyiv, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said he had talked to Secretary of State Antony Blinken to thank him for the "crucial military assistance" from the United States.
"(I) emphasized that we urgently need more heavy weapons delivered more regularly," he said on Twitter.
U.S. President Joe Biden returns to the White House in Washington, U.S. June 14, 2022. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
The aid packages, which come as U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin is meeting with allies in Brussels, were split into two categories: transfer of excess defense articles from U.S. stocks and other weapons being funded by the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI), a separate congressionally authorized program.
Russia's U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia on Wednesday accused Western countries of "fighting a proxy war with Russia," telling reporters: "I would like to say to the Western countries supplying weaponry to Ukraine – the blood of civilians is on your hands."
Ukraine is pressing the United States and other Western nations for speedy deliveries of weapons in the face of increased pressure from Russian forces in the eastern Donbas region.
Oleksandra Ustinova, a member of the Ukrainian Parliament, told reporters at an event organized by the German Marshall Fund: "We need all these weapons to be concentrated in a moment to defeat the Russians, not just keep coming every two or three weeks."
In May, the Biden administration announced a plan to give Ukraine M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems after receiving assurances from Kyiv that it would not use them to hit targets inside Russian territory. Biden imposed the condition to try to avoid escalating the Ukraine war.?read more
The rocket artillery in this aid package would have the same range as previous U.S. rocket shipments and is funded using Presidential Drawdown Authority, or PDA, in which the president can authorize the transfer of articles and services from U.S. stocks without congressional approval in response to an emergency, said a source who spoke on condition of anonymity.
For the first time, the United States is sending ground-based Harpoon launchers. In May, Reuters reported the U.S. was working on potential solutions that included pulling a launcher off of a U.S. ship to help provide Harpoon missile launch capability to Ukraine.?read more
Harpoons made by Boeing Co?(BA.N)?cost about $1.5 million per missile, according to experts and industry executives.
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Reporting by Mike Stone, Patricia Zengerle, Humeyra Pamuk and Steve Holland in Washington, Additional reporting by Michelle Nichols at the United Nations, Idrees Ali in Brussels and David Ljunggren in Ottawa; editing by Jonathan Oatis and Nick Zieminski
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https://www.businessinsider.com/us-europe-plan-alliance-russia-post-vladimir-putin-ukraine-war-2022-6
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Putin has left Russia in tatters — even if he wins the war in Ukraine. It's time for the US and Europe to start planning for a post-Putin future.
Mathias D?pfner?Jun 23, 2022, 1:18 PM
Vladimir Putin has ensured Russia will be stuck in political, economic, and moral demise until he is gone. So it's time for the US and Europe to start planning for a world after Putin.?Sputnik/Evgeny Biyatov/Kremlin via Reuters
This column by Mathias D?pfner, the CEO of Insider's parent company, Axel Springer,?originally appeared in WELT, another Axel Springer publication. A translated version appears below. The views expressed are his own.
Now is the time to start thinking about the years after the war in Ukraine. Because the outcome of the conflict is clear: Russia has lost — even if President Vladimir Putin wins the war.
How long this will take, no one knows.
Russia's war against Ukraine has been going on for eight years now — only the naive and those driven by short-term economic opportunism believed that the annexation of Crimea in 2014 meant peace and quiet. And it may go on for many more to come. But there will be a time after Putin — one way or another. And unless there is another surprising turn of events, his dictatorship will leave behind a devastated Russia.
A country that's economically weakened, almost destroyed. One that faces an ever-more-united West, with a strengthened NATO, a strengthened European Union, and a strengthened transatlantic alliance. A Western world that will be less dependent on gas supplies, cracking Russia's economic backbone. Sanctions will have left their mark. The army will be emaciated and a shadow of its former self. Its people torn and demoralized.
Putin's successors have only 2 options
Any new government in Moscow will then have to make a key strategic decision: Become an ally of the democratic West, or a dependent of the nondemocratic China.
These are the only two options for Putin's successors (perhaps someone typologically more like?Alexey Navalny?or?Garry Kasparov?— no one thought Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was possible either). And therein lies a historic opportunity for a new and better world order.
When the time comes, then, the West must not exploit the weakness of the loser, a post-Putin Russia. It should look ahead to a new, differently governed Russia instead. And it could already start preparing for an alliance that means stability, security, prosperity and, above all, freedom: "AMEURUS." A strategic alliance of America, Europe and Russia, in a community of values and trade that enables the fastest possible economic reconstruction of Russia, thus resisting the challenges and threats posed by China and radical Islamist states.
Russia is a nation of culture
From today's point of view, this idea might seem unrealistic and almost frivolous. But from a much longer, decades-long perspective, it's realistic. Nothing granted, but a possibility. One for which the West, the EU, and Germany should now actively prepare.
No matter how high or low the probability, we should try everything to increase its likelihood. Because the alternatives are worse. A permanently humiliated Russia remains aggressive and would become even more so. A permanently China-dependent Russia would become a powerful adversary to our economic and political disadvantage.
The Russian people aren't the Russian regime of today. Russia is a nation of culture. A country with raw-material resources we'd rather have on our side than against us.
Until now, Germany's longing for Russia has been naive and dangerous, as it overlooked the country's deep authoritarian tradition: from tsarism to Stalinist communism, only briefly interrupted by the leadership of Mikhail Gorbachev and Boris Yeltsin.
Putin's geopolitical megalomania and rule of fear were clearly inspired by former absolutist regimes. But what we're seeing now is rudimentary proof that absolutism is no longer tolerated in the 21st century.
And the chances that Russia will, after this self-inflicted humiliation, embark on a better, more liberal path aren't bad at all — historically speaking.
Two major military defeats triggered modernization in Russian history. The lost Crimean War in the 19th century led to major reforms and a decline in serfdom. And the defeat in the Russo-Japanese War in 1905 initiated the decline of autocratic tsarism, which ended with the February Revolution — though followed by the October Revolution of the Bolsheviks. This could be a pattern: Military defeats make Russia open to change.
The West's opposition must never be directed against a population, only against a regime. What was possible for the Germans after the Nazis must be even more so for the Russians after Putinism: a chance for a new beginning.
Measures for the future
If AMEURUS, a US-European-Russian community of values and trade — and perhaps even defense — is to emerge, forward-looking action is needed now.
Thinking about this doesn't mean weakening solidarity with Ukraine. On the contrary, strengthening our solidarity is the most important prerequisite for AMEURUS to have any chance at all. The West must ensure that Ukraine wins the war. And in parallel, it should initiate conversations and concepts for a new order.
What would that mean in concrete terms?
Not only America but also Europe, and Germany, must support Ukraine with all legitimate means — mainly with heavy weapons and state-of-the-art technology.
The West must not — like in 2008 in Georgia and 2014 in Crimea — legitimize any Russian interim success with a fouled peace. It must have patience and perseverance.
Finally, NATO must be strengthened, and the?accessions of Finland and Sweden?must become possible in negotiations with Ankara.
For Germany, for Chancellor Olaf Scholz, this particularly means one thing:?winning friends and allies in Europe and America?— and perhaps even in India. In this context, his trip to Kyiv was late, but it was an important and correct step. So were his decisions on arms deliveries, NATO treaty compliance, and the 100-billion-euro special fund for the Bundeswehr.
For the first time in a long time in German history, our neighbors expect Germany to strengthen its military and become more involved. Scholz should use this to do what his predecessor neglected to do: Weaken the Russian regime, strengthen Europe, and forge alliances. All to enable, in the long run, the alliance that will save us from a second, much worse Chinese attack on democracy — and that is AMEURUS.
One way or another, the Ukraine war will become the turning point of the world order.
We should do everything we can to make it a turn toward strengthened democracy, not a turn toward even stronger authoritarianism. Besides, it would be satisfying if Putin ended up achieving exactly the opposite of what he wanted.
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Lets DO IT.
ANDREW BECKWITH, PhD