Ukraine

What Andrew says was correct, of course, but Zelenskyy was under pressure to do something, in order to keep the inertia of aid coming in. Now that it looks like a quagmire to the casual observer, things seem a little more perilous.

I agree that the west can out-produce Russia, but I'm less confident that without the US, China will continue to stand by, if that's what you can call their current actions.

I also agree on the Eisenhower reference, and have pointed out before, that as much as people freak out about it, it's somewhat necessary. I'm a veteran, and I thought the hero worship of the GWOT was too much, but now I fear that the pendulum has swung too far the opposite way. At least back on reddit, you'd see people absolutely trashing the fools that volunteer for the military, complain that defense spending was far too high, etc. Then, as soon as things pop off, it's, "Russia better stfu or we'll come over there and kick their ass". You can't have it both ways. I'm pretty Left on most issues, but we can't even focus on building a good society, if we aren't secure, first. Our advantageous geography has granted us a lot of leeway, but the world gets smaller, everyday, and our allies aren't granted those advantages, anyway.