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Assume a majority of Russians have been washed into believing this is a special operation for their survival against the evil west. They will support this beyo

• meepmorp 3y ago
  > Does it make sense for the west to take advantage of this self delusion and help Russia own-goal itself for the foreseeable future Short answer: yes. The long answer is also yes, but imagine it stretched the vowel out a bit. > at large cost? Supporting Ukraine is an unbelievably good bargain.
• jfengel 3y ago
  Russia is a nuclear state. Which is the only reason anybody cares, in fact. If Russia were non-nuclear, Putin would be relaxing in Crimea with a pina colada right now. Instead we play this stupid guessing game, where we try to contain Russia without them feeling threatened enough to do something stupid and apocalyptic. Tanks? Sure. Dropping bombs ourselves? Nope. Artillery? Maybe, but only if you promise to use it only against troops on occupied land. We don't want their detriment to be bad enough that they actually believe their survival is at risk. They can pretend it is, but they don't truly believe it. If they did, they'd have nuked Kyiv two years ago and been done with it. So we baby their egos without letting them actually make any progress in Ukraine. We slowly nudge up the level of weaponry we sell -- and are constantly wondering whether it's too much, too little, or completely out in left field.