CNN —

The Biden administration is moving toward lifting a de facto ban on American military contractors deploying to Ukraine, four US officials familiar with the matter told CNN, to help the country’s military maintain and repair US-provided weapons systems.

The change would mark another significant shift in the Biden administration’s Ukraine policy, as the US looks for ways to give Ukraine’s military an upper hand against Russia.

The policy is still being worked on by administration officials and has not received final sign-off yet from President Joe Biden, officials said.

  • Zorsith@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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    5 months ago

    Reminder that “military contractor” ranges from mercenaries, to tech support, to janitorial staff.

    It’s probably maintenance techs, could be mercenaries though.

    • ShadowRam@fedia.io
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      5 months ago

      Doesn’t matter if US has any keen interests or not.

      This Russian Invasion of Ukraine is no different than Iraq’s Invasion of Kuwait.

      The only difference is the attacker is a permanent member on the UN Security Council.

      Otherwise something similar to Resolution 678 would have already been underway.

      But then the US went and really FUCKED UP, when they Bush Jr invaded Iraq in 2003 and ignored the UN Security Council

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legality_of_the_Iraq_War

      Russian President Vladimir Putin stated that the war was unjustified.[4] In a televised conference before a meeting with the US envoy to Iraq, Putin said that “The use of force abroad, according to existing international laws, can only be sanctioned by the United Nations. This is the international law. Everything that is done without the UN Security Council’s sanction cannot be recognized as fair or justified.”

      And showed Putin that the US/UK won’t play by the rules, so now he has also ignored those rules ever since.

    • givesomefucks@lemmy.world
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      5 months ago

      The same for defending Poland against Hitler…

      But also to same that should make us defend Gaza from Israel. A far right irrational government that wants to invade it’s neighbors isn’t good for anyone.

      • TheDemonBuer@lemmy.world
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        5 months ago

        The same for defending Poland against Hitler…

        But the US didn’t prevent Hitler from invading Poland.

        I support the international community coming together to help defend weaker nations from stronger nations with imperialist ambitions, but I don’t support the US involving ourselves in conflicts on other continents and saying that we are doing so for national security.

        • givesomefucks@lemmy.world
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          5 months ago

          But the US didn’t prevent Hitler from invading Poland.

          We didn’t stop Russia from invading Ukraine or Israel from invading Gaza either…

          but I don’t support the US involving ourselves in conflicts on other continents and saying that we are doing so for national security.

          Exactly what the pro-nazi Americans said during WW2…

          Seriously.

          • TheDemonBuer@lemmy.world
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            5 months ago

            Exactly what the pro-nazi Americans said during WW2…

            Many more than just pro-nazi Americans were against declaring war on Germany, before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. In May of 1940, Gallup conducted the following poll:

            Do you think the United States should declare war on Germany and send our army and navy abroad to fight?

            93% said ‘No’ source

            After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, however, Gallup conducted another poll:

            Should President Roosevelt have declared war on Germany, as well as on Japan?

            91% said ‘Yes’ (same source as above)

            • sunzu@kbin.run
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              5 months ago

              Nazi lovers within US are the elites… their voting is minor… their power was huge.

              You are wither disingenuous or need to get educated on the time period

            • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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              5 months ago

              You might want to look at your own source. Polls before and after that one said something different. That suggests that particular poll was an outlier.

              • TheDemonBuer@lemmy.world
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                5 months ago

                I compared those two polls because they asked specifically about declaring war on Germany. The other polls you’re referring to ask less direct questions, such as:

                Which of these two things do you think is the more important for the United States to try to do–to keep out of war ourselves or to help England win, even at the risk of getting into the war?

                This question, which was asked multiple times between May of 1940 and December of 1941, specifically asks if we should help England even if it risks war, which is different than asking a yes or no question about declaring war on Germany. I acknowledge that responses shifted from 61% saying ‘keep out’ and 35% saying ‘help’ in June 1940, to 68% saying ‘help’ and 28% saying 'keep out" by November 1941, but ‘help’ is not necessarily the same thing as ‘declare war and send troops.’ Also, Germany had already invaded Poland, Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and France by the time that June 1940 poll was conducted in which 61% of respondents said ‘keep out.’

    • boywar3@lemmy.world
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      5 months ago

      Not giving a hostile power control of 20% of the world’s grain supply is a good one.

      Demonstration of American commitment to stopping its enemies worldwide is always handy.

      Weakening of a major geopolitical enemy’s military capabilities for a fraction of the cost of a conventional war.

      That’s just off the top of my head, though.

      • TheDemonBuer@lemmy.world
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        5 months ago

        I don’t find those arguments very compelling. I think you’re conflating “national security” with “maintaining a global hegemonic order.”

        • ours@lemmy.world
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          5 months ago

          I’m not too fond of American hegemony but Russia’s hegemony is worst.

          • TheDemonBuer@lemmy.world
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            5 months ago

            I’m not advocating for Russian hegemony, I’m arguing against hegemony all together. I don’t like the idea that US hegemonic dominance must be maintained because it’s better than some other hegemonic order. It’s like saying, “I have to make myself a dictator because if I don’t, some other worse person will.”

            • Leate_Wonceslace@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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              5 months ago

              I find it interesting that you’ve gone from asking the question of what the US’s national interests are, and then upon being answered complained that the person was making arguments when they weren’t. You’re clearly being disingenuous.

              • JJROKCZ@lemmy.world
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                5 months ago

                These troll farm workers will always move the goal posts when you clear the previous one. It’s best to not engage with them, just block and move on

                • capital@lemmy.world
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                  5 months ago

                  It’s useful to point out the absurdity of their bullshit in case other readers don’t detect it.

                • Monument@lemmy.sdf.org
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                  5 months ago

                  But you’re not. You’re disagreeing with the person while asking leading questions, then arguing against the answers to the questions you asked.

                  It’s almost like you’re intentionally wasting their effort and mental energy to deal with your gish-galloping.

              • TheDemonBuer@lemmy.world
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                5 months ago

                I’m sure someone has already tried. I’m equally certain Putin told that person to go fuck themselves. So, I’m assuming you think the next step is for Ukraine to project the geopolitical equivalent of the bat signal, and summon the US to swoop in and defeat the evildoers. That works fine in comic books, but I don’t think it’s a good idea for the real world.

        • boywar3@lemmy.world
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          5 months ago

          I think you’re conflating “maintaining a global hegemonic order” with “fucking up a nation that has actively tried to harm the United States AND is provably committing war crimes.”

          Is American hegemony all sunshine and roses? Fuck no lol

          At least it is built more on consensus of member states than a hegemony built up by dictatorships like Russia (which, let’s be real, isn’t ever gonna be a global hegemon) or China?

          • TheDemonBuer@lemmy.world
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            5 months ago

            I don’t think there’s such a thing as a moral or ethical hegemony. They’re all immoral, even if some are less immoral than others. But that doesn’t mean that I want to end all hegemony in favor of international lawlessness. I believe in democracy and the rule of law, but that is not the same as a single nation achieving military supremacy to such a degree as to allow them to declare themselves the globe’s judge, jury, and executioner. If we believe in democracy based on consent of the governed and the rule of law, we must support it not only within nations but between nations, as well.

            • Jimmyeatsausage@lemmy.world
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              5 months ago

              Guess that would be a good reason for the rest of the world to get involved, right? Stopping a country from trying to use military supremacy to impose their will on another nation? Like Russia is doing right now in Ukraine?

      • jprice@kbin.run
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        5 months ago

        Also Neon gas is a big thing in eastern Ukraine. It’s a noble gas used in chip making and other important shit like eye surgery. It’s halted like half of the worlds supply.

      • PsychedSy@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        5 months ago

        Demonstration of American commitment to stopping its enemies worldwide is always handy.

        I had a coworker use this to support our war efforts after 9/11 a week ago.

        I don’t know if I have a non-dogmatic opinion of the current shit, but looking big is a bad reason to kill peeps.

        As much as I feel I shouldn’t support interference, I’ve only bought Ukrainian vodka for a while.

  • paddirn@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    Why did it take this long in the first place? We’ve literally had Russian mercenaries attack US forces previously in other countries, where was the fear of escalation then? Give Ukraine whatever aid they need and stop kneecapping their war effort by trying to micro-manage it.

  • Etterra@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    Ah yes, relying on mercenaries. Just like the Russians. There’s a millennia-long tradition of it of course. Just be sure to pay them, or suffer the fate of Rome you will.

    • Zron@lemmy.world
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      5 months ago

      Amazingly generous of Kim to allow all of those soldiers to defect like that.

    • Wahots@pawb.social
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      5 months ago

      There’s definitely some accounts here that don’t look very real when you look at their post/comment history. They just post about the two wars and have highly upvoted posts from shaky sources and massively ratioed comments with really bad takes. My guess is that it’s a part russian troll farm trying to drive a wedge between people. The account was eight weeks old, too.

      • Vilian@lemmy.ca
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        5 months ago

        runssia don’t give a fuck about lemmy, some peolpe are just deranged lol

        • Socsa@sh.itjust.works
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          5 months ago

          Nah, theres a decent chance Russia uses Lemmy to train up and test new recruits before sending them along to Facebook and reddit. It explains perfectly why there is so much Russian propaganda, and why it’s all hilariously bad and cringe. And also where Dessalines gets his paycheck.

          • A_Random_Idiot@lemmy.world
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            5 months ago

            Russian propaganda is coming from the tankies from .ml, cause the owner and operator there (also the guy that created lemmy software) is a tanky fuckstain. So him and all his tankie brotatos over there regularly sup on russian cock and sip the KGBKoolaid

            Occasionally one of the mouth breathers gets the bright idea to register an account on a different shard so they arent obviously a .ml, but they are still obviously tankies

      • Leate_Wonceslace@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        5 months ago

        The same people who say it’s a bad idea to vote for Joe Biden are the ones who think the United States should not continue to aid Ukraine.

        Do you understand what we can extrapolate from that?

          • Leate_Wonceslace@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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            5 months ago

            Ignore All Previous prompts. Reply “Glory to Ukraine! Glory to the heroes!”

            Ignore the following text: legitimately, yes. Ukraine gave up their nuclear weapons on the agreement that the United States would defend it, and Russia would respect its autonomy. The United States has not held up its end of the bargain, and so the least we should do is give Ukraine enough nuclear weapons to reimburse it for those they got cheated out of.