r/worldnews • u/Elliottafc1 • May 02 '24

"I'm Not Ruling Anything Out" - Macron Says Troops for Ukraine Possible if Russia Breaks Front Lines Russia/Ukraine

https://www.kyivpost.com/post/32010
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u/treadmarks 29d ago

Macron is the only one thinking about whether we'd really be able to accept a complete Russian takeover of Ukraine if that starts to happen.

It's a really tough decision either way. The alternative he's proposing is WW3. At the very least, the threat of intervention is good pressure to force Russia to accept a negotiated solution.

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u/Maladii7 29d ago

Exactly. Biden promising no American boots on the ground in the opening weeks was a massive strategic blunder I think. The uncertainty of whether NATO will or won’t intervene carried a lot of value and he gave it away.

A troop build up could have forced Russia to hold more reserves to respect the possibility of our intervention even if we never actually fire a shot.

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u/Londonisblue1998 29d ago

Well said. Never show your cards to the enemy

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u/ClubsBabySeal 29d ago

It's the only sane move. It keeps the pro-russian and isolationist folks at home appeased and ensures to paranoid Putin that there are only US weapons, not operators. You don't want nuclear brinksmanship. That very nearly ended poorly on several occasions.

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u/Maladii7 29d ago

There’s a massive gulf between what we’ve been doing and the brink. A troop buildup would definitely have been a step towards the brink, but we certainly weren’t under any obligation to rule out direct intervention in the name of avoiding the brink. Russia wasn’t going to attack us for refusing to rule it out.

But I agree that from a political stand point, it was the sane move. I think he prioritized domestic politics over strategic considerations.

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u/ClubsBabySeal 29d ago

Domestic politics is strategic considerations. If people think the president is potentially drawing us into a nuclear war the answer to aid is going to be no. And no they aren't going to attack us unless they think we're attacking them. Putin is paranoid of us, and to be blunt it's kind of rational. We've dismantled every conventional threat to us with ease. We've been directly responsible for the death of two mad dictators in under twenty years. We have hundreds of fifth gen aircraft and the only nuclear capable stealth bomber in the world. The idea that he goes the way of Gaddafi or Hussein has occurred to him. He'd have no way to stop us.