the US in Iraq in 1991

Remember when tragedy took "heroism slava" out the title after finding out it was a slogan invented by literal nazis in WW2

i think western powers wanted the proxy war but expected russia to fold quicker. i dont think all the war propaganda was just propaganda, i think a lot of people in the west on a government/military level genuinely believed russia was gonna quit from the conflict quicker.
i also think the US expected the EU to be less ed (worst expectation perhaps in history)

imagine being the US and thinking you could rely on europe to do anything right

people were defending the ridiculously lax weapon imports and state-sanctioned nazi militias because there was a 'nascent liberal democracy,' and disregarding a ton of data showing a lack of confidence in the government after they were deposed by a western-funded movement really classic moments here

fr

when has europe done anything right

inb4 plankton tells me they civilized the third world and introduced them to electricity and rail

european politicians speaking to their citizens immediatedly after basically outlawing alternative energy sources, closing all nuclear power plants, and then becoming dependent on a single source of energy from russia who they currently sanctioned

What should the EU have done differently from the start of the war from a US perspective? Getting off Russian gas is one thing but I mean since the war started.

They've done pretty much everything the US wanted.

"how could a continent run on a system that incentivizes the powerful to privatize its economy be so shortsighted?"

Immediate severing of political relations with Russia (the French and Germans withheld)

but that reluctance came from the economic dependence

That reluctance lasted like a week or two after the war tho lol, it's not like that's the reason Ukraine hasn't took back the entirety of the Donbas

don't fully disagree in regards to them following the US but I think a large part of it is that the US clearly wanted to one up Europe by showing like "okay well you didn't do what we politically told you to do over the past like, 2 decades so you're gonna take one for the team on this lmao" in regards to both weakness of the EUR/GBP and also their energy & import/export policy

not literally ofc, i don't think it was like a psychological reaction, but i think the US does see it somewhat of a gambit for them getting geopolitical leverage back over Europe by being like "look you didn't follow our lead before, here's what happens"

keep in mind that in the beginning even european intelligence didn't believe the US that Russia was gonna invade Ukraine. So there was skepticism even among governments in europe to do anything early on or make preparations. Then it actually happened and the continent went into full cope panic mode

i mean ukraine was never gonna do that

how are you gonna take a region populated by people you were shelling

them taking the donbass would be worse than leaving it be at this point unless they moved every ethnic russian east

!dream chariman americana on Putin d***

!dream Putin and Zelensky, in huge bed, Plankton, cinematic, 8k, detailed face, hyper realistic,

at wrestlemania

This is what George Bush saw when he looked Putin in his eyes and "saw his soul"

i don't think the US really cares that much about Ukraine or about anything (i'm sure some people have drank their own kool-aid, but i don't think so on like the absolute top level of those calling shots). I also don't think they see it just as a means of proxy sparring with Russia tbh, although they arent opposed to it ofc
I think basically those at the top saw a proxy war in Ukraine as a means of geopolitical leverage and expanding relative global polarization, but at the same time misjudged significantly just how lengthy or bad the war would be or just how badly Europe's ed polciies would bite them in the ass

i don't think the way the US has conducted support of ukraine shows that this is really about NATO expansionism or military operations. the US would be moving a lot different in that case. The fact they knew the war was gonna happen months in advance but still rejected NATO application (which theoretically would have stopped the war if NATO rhetoric is to be believed), seems to more or less be proof that there was an alternative motive for specifically allowing the war to actually happen outside the sphere of NATO influence alone. I also just don't buy the war happened solely to weaken Russia, because while the US sanctions on Russia are one thing, the US knew well in advance the EU was gonna be f***ed if any sanctions happened, but they still pressured them to do so and follow suit. US officials very clearly knew what was going to happen if that was done, which is why "putin's winter is coming" started literally at the time of the initial sanctions, not until after the excavation of how much of a disaster it would be was uncovered.

the best schizo theory ive heard is that the US wanted to force the war into existence knowing it f*** up the world economy as a means of rectifying US-specific inflation by bumping the DXY value higher to balance import/export values relative to inflation

I think it's both trying to get Europe fully back in US orbit and trying to weakem Russia, I don't think they expected Russia to be handling these sanctions so well

!dream realistic Geert Wilders and Putin, kissing, in bathroom, hyper realistic, 8k, detailed face, cinematic

Looks like Milo Yianopolous