Russia - threadbanned users in OP

I dont really know what you expect from the Biden administration, you might judge a book by it cover but the actions of the administration have basically saved Ukraine from ruin. So I don't really understand where the lack of confidence comes from.

Will Russia run out, the way its throwing bodies into the fight, NK & Iran supplying ammo and it public support compliant through its very successful anti-western propaganda machine.

I can see Russia continuing to level a sovereign country town by town if we can't have it no1 can which is a massive putin made humanitarian crisis.

Will China take a chance on Taiwan while using Russia as a distraction?

An unreliable source that China is supplying weapons is worrying.

Ukraine its the now goto for testing systems

Tough decisions needed sanctions do nothing, democracy is under attack.

Plenty of non-war criminal russians have been forced to go there.

You make it sound easy. Plenty of high profile Russians couldn't stay in Russia after voicing dissent, or were imprisoned for it. Certainly those without such profiles must encounter as bad or worse fates.

I don't know any Russians at all. I just think it's objectively interesting that a pejorative term for a group of people is currently considered acceptable. That's not propaganda or the product of it.

Perhaps calling them orcs doesn't help them feel like they can escape to a safe and welcoming place. Perhaps it in fact feeds the actual propaganda that we, as westerners, want to destroy them.

They cant keep it up indefinitely - they can only supply what they have in near operational order.

The west has not mobilised for war, it doesnt have a war economy capable of replacing half the stuff sent in a timely fashion let alone boosting stocks above pre-war levels.

Every weapon sent to Ukraine is one that needs replaced, and the replacement process could take years and years.

I know (from past posts) you don't like all these Ukrainian refugees mooching off you (as the EUs key taxpayer!) .

However do you want Ukraine supported or not?

It's going to cost money to help either way (paying for weapons, and/or paying to support refugees that the Russian military drive out of the country).

Anyway, you don't pay all this tax personally Strumms and Ireland is really a pretty minor contributor to the EU budget that was a recipient of funds for many decades (not that that matters really, I think such arguments are pretty reductive and stupid most of the time). Afaik Irish govt. has also insisted that our EU contributions to Ukraine cannot be spent on "lethal aid" in any case.

I am happy to see the EU supporting Ukraine (refugee support, financial aid, and paying for weapons) + am sure there's more of us than there are of you with the every Euro is a prisoner attitude.

Russia is such a vast area that a couple of hundred thousand deaths would be a tiny amount particularly if they come from far flung regions .As in most of these wars it's the poor that are sent in as cannon fodder not the better connected from the big cities . We all know if a lot of these soldiers came from places like Moscow some internal unrest would be more likely .

Many Nato countries are already starting to replenish there materials. Bar the more technical artillery systems and the newer MBT's most of the equipment being supplied to Ukraine were going into storage or in storage like the Bradley's.

The Challengers being supplied by the British were about to start an upgrade to change the Cannon on them rifled to smoothbore. Many of the other MBT's they are getting are ex Soviet tanks that are upgraded. Most ammunition has a use by date a d would be replaced anyway.

If Military budgets in these countries are risen by 5-10% they will cover the materials used. In the US they will just redirect production away from systems not being used ( Navy and Air force) to land force weapons.

Zelensky was elected on an anti corruption platform and was considered to be doing a poor job at delivering what he promised, which is why he had terrible ratings before the war broke out. A lot of these corrupt people being weeded out have obviously thrived for years including under Zelensky's government, let's not pretend otherwise.

As a war leader he's been brilliant, but rosy eyed revisionism shouldn't portray him as a brilliant peacetime leader before that.

Still, it's good to see action being taken now

Over-egging the pudding there mate.

Industrial and economic capacity in the West and NATO is far far superior to Russia.

Russia has to go to the begging pool for economic powerhouses such as Iran and North Korea!

The oligarchs can't do much against the GRU and internal security, who are the ones really running the show over there. People are falling out of windows at the rate of knots and there's a reason for that