wow. kudos for being the “now that it’s too late to have an impact, i’m going to do the thing i should have done many months ago” president
all the more reason this (among other things) should have happened many months ago
Yeah, but now is better than never.
God knows Trump wouldn’t authorize it.
Plus who knows, 😜, maybe I don’t have to work tomorrow!
I mean, if I was mangled into 30753 pieces mixed in with the neighbors dog and Misses Jane’s tits on someone’s windshield which is also in 1000 pieces and on fire tomorrow, then I don’t have to go work.
But all good 👍 if we can possibly get sadam putin in a bag and toss him into the ocean with honors. Or just in to a bag. Tomorrow or this coming week would be a good time for that.
At the start of the invasion Russia was claiming they finally had hypersonic nuclear missles. Meaning they could get nukes past defense systems. That is the reason the US was hesitant to let things escalate.
Since then we’ve found out that Russias hypersonic missles had some misfires and still didn’t have the ability to steer at hypersonic speeds if I remember right.
That plus the fact that Trump is months away from helping Russia changes the strategy.
Now give them a thousand tomahawks and the location of every single Putin palace.
This is actually great news. No reason to have a nuclear strike on US or its naval/military assets globally as a response.
Kursk was by far the stupidest Ukrainian move in the war, and they are losing badly there now. If Ukraine hits the nuclear plant or gas terminal though (not a defensive move outside their area of combat), US better immidiately cut off aid/support or get nuked.
This has the potential to be mostly nothing, and get Ukraine to negotiate withdrawal from Kursk to keep some of its last Ukrainians.
I believe NYT makes you login, even on a gift link. Here is a TLDR:
President Biden has authorized Ukraine to use U.S.-supplied long-range Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) to strike Russian and North Korean forces in Russia, a significant shift in U.S. policy. This decision comes in response to Russia’s introduction of North Korean troops into the conflict and their anticipated assault on Ukrainian forces in the Kursk region.
The move reflects growing concerns over Ukraine’s ability to withstand simultaneous assaults while defending territory. The authorization aims to bolster Ukraine’s defense, target high-value military assets, and deter North Korean involvement. However, it has sparked debate among U.S. officials over escalation risks, as Russia might retaliate against the U.S. or its allies.
President-elect Donald Trump, who has vowed to reduce U.S. support for Ukraine, is set to take office in two months, adding urgency to the decision. The Ukrainian strategy may include using captured Russian territory in Kursk as leverage in potential future negotiations. Meanwhile, the risk of Russian countermeasures remains a central concern for Biden’s administration and its allies.
My take: I’ve been waiting on this since the US election. It’s sound strategy of we believe Putin won’t want to escalate with NATO before Trump takes office.
The other side of this is that once it’s allowed, Trump would have to take it away.
Possible, but other countries that have such weapons are sure to follow and allow the use now.
Better late than never, I guess.
While they won’t be able to reach Moscow with these, even from within Kursk, I am willing to bet the authorization was withheld on intelligence grounds. A lot of things in the war make sense if you look at it from the perspective that arms support can’t be guaranteed.
Instead of letting Ukraine just burn through weapons, the US and allies have waited until they have the full operational capability to deploy the weapons with extreme effectiveness. They’ve had ATACMS for a while, so I suspect they held off deep strikes until the most effective targets had been identified and the likelihood of effective strike was near certain.
That’s giving everyone involved a lot of credit. To be honest, I sort of doubt these decisions were quite that rational.
