Comments by "" (@tekannon7803) on "Retired general explains whether Ukraine is ready for counter-offense" video.

  1. Retired Brigadier General Peter Zwack speaks about the Ukrainians in a way that should make us all proud to be part of the human community. It is obvious General Zwack has been impressed beyond his wildest expectations at how every man, woman and child and government official and of course military personnel are united in their cause to take back their country from the Russian invaders. It is unprecedented to see or hear about such unity when we live in democracies where at times one could believe that political parties have become separate parts of society themselves, defending their values and not the values of the country they live in. To hear General Zwack we must realize something that Professor Michael Clarke from the UK said that I believe deserves repeating. Thank you, John and Peter. Here is something I have paraphrased and written as a comment that Professor Clarke said to Kate in the BBC Frontline show: Michael Clarke says that if Putin walks away with what is perceived by him and the rest of the world to be a victory or partial victory, then the west loses very badly, because dictatorships are on the march across the world and because we’ve now committed ourselves to Ukraine in the way we have over the last 15 months. The credibility of liberal democracy is on the line; not just as an ideology---but as a power center in world politics of which it has been for over 200 years. So; in a way, we are on a tiger’s back now, because having committed ourselves to defeating this Putin adventure, if we fail to defeat it, then the rest of the world will draw its own conclusions about the waning power of the western world and we’ll feel the effect of that pretty strongly. What Michael Clarke expects is if Putin can be thrown back, not out of all Ukraine, that would be very good if he were, but Clarke suggests that if Putin were thrown back out of the parts of Ukraine that he’s conquered since 2022, the western world would regard that as a victory, and most probably would accept it as a win. And: though Ukraine probably wouldn’t like it, if the west thought that gaining back the territory that was conquered in 2022 was good enough, then Professor Clarke thinks Kiev would have to decide that at least for the time being that was it was okay to let Crimea be off of the bargaining table.
    1