Comments by "Alan Friesen" (@alanfriesen9837) on "Rus Kupiansk Offensive Resumes after Ukr Counterattacks Fail, Ukr Bakmut Loses Momentum" video.

  1. Alexander, You're doing a much better job at getting into the details of this conflict than I am, and I very much appreciate your efforts and I trust what you say. I'd like to see this war end, and I'd like to see it end without a Russian humiliation. But I'm feeling some very strong parallels between this war and the war in Vietnam that the United States took part in. While casualties are important—lives lost on all sides are tragic and not to be taken for granted—the body count is probably not the determinant for victory. At the end of the Vietnam War when we were negotiating our withdrawal one of the American generals told one of the Vietnamese leaders that the Americans had never been beaten in battle, to which the Vietnamese leader explained that this really didn't matter. I'm sure that there are as many differences between the two conflicts as there are similarities, but as a great power engages halfheartedly against a nationalist army that is supported logistically by an opposing great power, I can't help but feel déjà vu, and I wonder if this isn't all intentional. I think that Russia is the stronger force and the more militarily capable. But a large part of what destroyed the Soviet Union was their endless war in Afghanistan, which was similar to the American experience in Vietnam. I think that allowing the war to creep on for a long time playing a defensive encroachment strategy might be tactically optimal, I worry about the long-term consequences.
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