French president has faced a barrage of criticism, but said his comments were “weighed, thought through and measured.”
French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday said his refusal to rule out the prospect of sending Western troops to Ukraine was intentional, despite the uproar it has provoked.
Macron swept aside the barrage of criticism he has faced in France and on the international stage and insisted his statements on Russian President Vladimir Putin’s aggression against Ukraine were carefully thought out.
“These are sufficiently serious issues; every one of the words that I say on this issue is weighed, thought through and measured,” Macron told reporters on the sidelines of a visit to the 2024 Olympic village near Paris. But he refused to answer any further questions on the topic.
Strategic ambiguity. It’s very unlikely that NATO will send combat troops to Ukraine. But suggesting that it’s a possibility, means that Russia has to prepare for that possibility, which has a cost for the Russians. They can’t focus too much on only defeating the Ukrainians, they have to hold something back just in case NATO decides to get involved.
This whole thing is incredibly stupid.
Even if by some miracle Russia ‘won’ in Ukraine, it’d still be a pyrrhic victory. As the Americans learnt in Iraq and Afghanistan, the occupation is what’s difficult, the actual war should have been a breeze. Even the first bit wasn’t a breeze for the Russians, Russia won’t be able to afford holding on to Ukraine. It will cost them too much money and too many troops. The inevitable insurgency will grind them down.
And thanks to the war, NATO has expanded and is drastically increasing spending. Russia has drastically increased military spending to win the war in Ukraine, but they can’t keep up with NATO. It’ll be like the Soviet Union all over again, they’ll end up spending far more than their economic base allows.