mikedilger on Nostr: Just because Ukraine is fighting for itself does not mean that the US and NATO are ...

Just because Ukraine is fighting for itself does not mean that the US and NATO are not getting involved and taking advantage of the situation. And it certainly doesn't mean that Ukraine is rejecting the help of NATO. There are US CIA persons in Ukraine and have been for over a decade. There are NATO forces operating targetting equipment that is highly sensitive and requires lots of training. As far as I understand it, Ukraine appreciates the support. And Ukraine has indicated a desire to join NATO which appears to be (proximally) the reason Russia decided to decimate Ukraine before the joined NATO, since it was kind of a "last chance, do it now or else you won't be able to" situation that forced them to choose. Given Ukraine is the only flat-land entry into Russia for ground forces, it is of great strategic interest to Russia, despite whether it is "right" or "wrong" for Russia to abuse you as they are. Ukraine absolutely has the right to make the choice to join NATO, and it absolutely has the right to defend itself against Russia, but Ukraine also knew what was going to happen and the spurned the Bear anyways. When you fuck around, you find out.

I always throw my moral support behind any group of people that wishes independence from another, so my moral support is with you, but it's hard to be hopeful in this situation.

My family tends to flee rather than stand and fight. We lived in Beresan region near Odessa (Landau, Spier) [yes I'm Germanic] and we left when things started going bad, around 1905, and thank god we did because shit really hit the fan after that.