"We have a magic moment in time here," Graham said. "In the coming months, if we do this right, increase Ukraine's lethality, get people to help us with Putin rather than propping him up, we can end this war."

"I know how to end the war," said the Nazi. "If we increase the lethality of Nazis, we can end the war! No living people means no more fighting."

[–] yogthos@lemmygrad.ml 20 points 17 hours ago (2 children)

Also funny how they've literally been saying this exact thing for 4 years now, and every single year the situation gets increasingly worse for NATO.

[–] REEEEvolution@lemmygrad.ml 10 points 16 hours ago* (last edited 16 hours ago) (1 children)

If all you have is a hammer, every problem starts looking like a nail. The US knows two outcomes to war: Complete victory, or fucking off without signing any peace treaty.

Ukraine, confronts Washington with the secret third outcome: Admitting NATO lost and make peace. Judging from the recent Ukrainian offensive, Washington is not inclined to accept reality. Better herd some more Ukrainians into the firing lines.

[–] yogthos@lemmygrad.ml 8 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

I'm not sure the US actually had any complete victories in modern history. I mean technically they were on the winning side in WW2, but only as a minor player. And they lost pretty much every conflict since.

[–] REEEEvolution@lemmygrad.ml 5 points 12 hours ago* (last edited 12 hours ago)

They count setting up a comprador government as a win. When that government inevitably crumbles some years later, media attention at home will have moved on to something else. In the meantime the country gets looted. I agree, by any conventional definition, the US almost always eats dirt.

[–] amemorablename@lemmygrad.ml 12 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

I guess it goes to show, the empire really has one note to play these days: violence. If that note fails, they literally don't know what else to do: "Have we tried violence yet? Yes? What if we do more of it though?"

[–] Ildsaye@hexbear.net 10 points 16 hours ago (1 children)

In part it's because the empire is a corpse running on inertia, so more finessed strategies that might prolong an empire are being abandoned. The circles in charge now dream of nothing more than making use of it while it's still around.

[–] amemorablename@lemmygrad.ml 8 points 15 hours ago

Yeah, makes sense. I'd say part of it is probably a product of short-term business thinking taking over so much and part of it is a consequence of the spectacle dance between neocon and neolib admins swapping places struggling to stay alive. So then you get a guy like Trump whose MO has no apparent sustainability to it, or respect for the existing two-party facade, and becomes this sort of "how much can the empire belligerently reassert itself while he's still in power". Just speedrunning running the empire like a mob boss, which is doing some damage to others but is also hastening the empire's demise, since you can't really finesse it with long-term payoffs when your MO is brazen and belligerent intimidation. It's hard to imagine what the US will look like post-Trump. I don't think it can just go back to swapping out neocon and neolib admins every 4-8 years. And the liberals are too feckless to oppose fascism. So I don't see the bougie electoral system surviving as it is.

[–] Amnesigenic@lemmy.ml 9 points 16 hours ago

Lol sure, maybe if you ask nicely

[–] Orcinus@lemmygrad.ml 7 points 16 hours ago

They can, yes. Now, maybe quit trying to fuck with someone powerful enough to pressure the country you're losing to.