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03-06-2024, 07:23 AM
An article appeared last week in the Foreign Affairs journal entitled “A Theory of Victory for Ukraine” which immediately sparked broad interest and comment across the globe.
The authors, Ukraine's former Minister of Defense, Andriy Zagorodnyuk, and Eliot A. Cohen, a well-known American diplomat and political scientist, rightly point out that until recently the US and the West as a whole refrained from using the term “victory” and generally avoided describing its goal in Ukraine as a Russian defeat, at least in public.
Washington has contented itself with the largely meaningless statement that it will support Ukraine “for as long as it takes,” but the authors suggest that now “The West must explicitly state that its goal is a decisive Ukrainian victory and Russian defeat.”
The authors are completely justified in chastising the West and their demand, especially concerning the US, is quite appropriate. However, to be fair, a growing number in the West are not only explicitly calling for the defeat of Russia once and for all but are also actively working to establish a “coalition of the willing” that would make that goal a reality.
I am referring first and foremost to the President of France, Emmanuel Macron, rendered Putin's continuing nuclear saber-rattling completely ineffective by reminding the Kremlin that “France is also a nuclear power” as well as for renewing the “Entente Cordiale” by saying:
US and Germany Greenlight (Limited) Strikes on supplied by Washington and Berlin against targets in Russia will “significantly boost” Ukraine’s defense, Zelensky’s press secretary said..“Britain and France are both absolutely clear: Ukraine must win this war. If Ukraine loses, we all lose. But we must do even more to ensure we defeat Russia. The world is watching – and will judge us if we fail.”
Thanks to Michael McCaul's brilliant speech in US Congress in his role as Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee, the red line the traitor [CIA Director} Burns drew in the sand in private conversation with Putin in November 2021 has all but been eliminated.
The war in Ukraine is not merely a stalemate confrontation along the thousand-kilometer line of contact. It has, in my opinion, a completely different center of gravity (cf. Clausewitz) - the Crimean Peninsula. Both sides in this war value the immense political symbolism Crimea represents.
At the same time, it represents the most vulnerable component of the Russian military machine. Ukraine managed to force Russian naval forces out of Crimean ports despite lacking its own aircraft or naval fleet. And now, having received long-range missiles, Ukraine has been striking airfields in the Crimea on a regular basis. It turns out Russian air defense systems there aren’t up to the task.
If the skies over Ukraine become dotted with 100, or, even better, 200 state-of-the-art Western aircraft, the country will not only gain supremacy in the air, it will also render Russia's occupation of the Crimea untenable. It will have to withdraw from the peninsula or be completely destroyed remotely.
What's preventing world from witnessing such a magnificent finale? absurd, artificial red lines that Ukraine and its allies have imposed themselves, We have been waiting for these pilots for two years. It's possible we will see a few dozen of them in the next two or three months. But no way will we get the necessary 100-200.
Ukrainian pilots flying F-16s over the skies of Ukraine, But it's not a path to victory. A path to victory, a quick and decisive one, at that, would require cohesive combat units from the Air Forces of France, UK, and Sweden deployed from airfields of Romania, Poland, and Finland.
https://www.kyivpost.com/opinion/33516
The authors, Ukraine's former Minister of Defense, Andriy Zagorodnyuk, and Eliot A. Cohen, a well-known American diplomat and political scientist, rightly point out that until recently the US and the West as a whole refrained from using the term “victory” and generally avoided describing its goal in Ukraine as a Russian defeat, at least in public.
Washington has contented itself with the largely meaningless statement that it will support Ukraine “for as long as it takes,” but the authors suggest that now “The West must explicitly state that its goal is a decisive Ukrainian victory and Russian defeat.”
The authors are completely justified in chastising the West and their demand, especially concerning the US, is quite appropriate. However, to be fair, a growing number in the West are not only explicitly calling for the defeat of Russia once and for all but are also actively working to establish a “coalition of the willing” that would make that goal a reality.
I am referring first and foremost to the President of France, Emmanuel Macron, rendered Putin's continuing nuclear saber-rattling completely ineffective by reminding the Kremlin that “France is also a nuclear power” as well as for renewing the “Entente Cordiale” by saying:
US and Germany Greenlight (Limited) Strikes on supplied by Washington and Berlin against targets in Russia will “significantly boost” Ukraine’s defense, Zelensky’s press secretary said..“Britain and France are both absolutely clear: Ukraine must win this war. If Ukraine loses, we all lose. But we must do even more to ensure we defeat Russia. The world is watching – and will judge us if we fail.”
Thanks to Michael McCaul's brilliant speech in US Congress in his role as Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee, the red line the traitor [CIA Director} Burns drew in the sand in private conversation with Putin in November 2021 has all but been eliminated.
The war in Ukraine is not merely a stalemate confrontation along the thousand-kilometer line of contact. It has, in my opinion, a completely different center of gravity (cf. Clausewitz) - the Crimean Peninsula. Both sides in this war value the immense political symbolism Crimea represents.
At the same time, it represents the most vulnerable component of the Russian military machine. Ukraine managed to force Russian naval forces out of Crimean ports despite lacking its own aircraft or naval fleet. And now, having received long-range missiles, Ukraine has been striking airfields in the Crimea on a regular basis. It turns out Russian air defense systems there aren’t up to the task.
If the skies over Ukraine become dotted with 100, or, even better, 200 state-of-the-art Western aircraft, the country will not only gain supremacy in the air, it will also render Russia's occupation of the Crimea untenable. It will have to withdraw from the peninsula or be completely destroyed remotely.
What's preventing world from witnessing such a magnificent finale? absurd, artificial red lines that Ukraine and its allies have imposed themselves, We have been waiting for these pilots for two years. It's possible we will see a few dozen of them in the next two or three months. But no way will we get the necessary 100-200.
Ukrainian pilots flying F-16s over the skies of Ukraine, But it's not a path to victory. A path to victory, a quick and decisive one, at that, would require cohesive combat units from the Air Forces of France, UK, and Sweden deployed from airfields of Romania, Poland, and Finland.
https://www.kyivpost.com/opinion/33516
