I think the problem is not down to one person - it seems like it is a group-think - problem within the security establishment, which seemed reasonable at first, but it is now very apparent that it was wrong.

I’ve now updated the post with the full article

To those who downvote based on the title alone: I know you are still in election mode, and might assume this is some pro-Trump article., but it is not. A proper stock take of the response to the Russian invasion is very necessary

I do understand those arguments, and the US has been a true ally to Ukraine - much more than the Europeans who generally didn’t spend as much as they should have, and sometimes added additional layers of caution (Olaf Scholz in particular).

But if you take a “don’t criticize us” attitude, you won’t be open to any lessons that might be learned. The lesson I hope the West, Europe in particular, would learn is that timidity and weakness invites aggression from someone like Putin.

Yes, it does add up to a lot, but it always came in just enough to keep Russia at bay. Also the permissions around where and how which weapons could be used.
When Russia invaded, Putin had no idea how corrupt, weak and inefficient his forces were.
This trickle allowed Russia enough time to turn around much of that, getting us to the point where they are now severely threatening Ukraine. If the military aid was more decisive, Russia could have been defeated early on, and the total spend could have been less than where it is now.

He is not an Afrikaner - as the child of immigrants he went to English schools, and has nothing to do with Afrikaans.

Your prejudice makes you dishonest.

While he grew up in SA, he has no loyalty to South Africa either. We don’t want him nor be associated with him

Reich did not suggest using a British alternative.
His words from the article: “The sooner the US government revokes his security clearance, terminates its contracts with him and the entities he controls, and builds its own alternatives to Starlink and SpaceX, the safer America will be”

Do you really need to be an expert to see a problem with Musk’s Russian sympathies?

The point is that to protect the Nato countries in Europe, Nato should have, and could have done a lot more to defeat Russia’s imperialist aims before it reaches the Nato countries doorstep

Please read the article

Good for them, but you have to wonder: why be in a traitorous party if you’re not a traitor yourself.

It is Russia that started the war, and is “stoking” it. The countries that assist Ukraine with arms are doing so to prevent Russian imperialism from expanding into Europe and beyond. It is very necessary that they continue to do so.

From the article:

Predictions of a Russian economic collapse—made almost uniformly by Western economists and politicians at the start of the war in Ukraine—have proven thumpingly wrong

The cost to Russia of Putin’s imperialism is not collapse, it is the huge loss of lives, and the future economic pain and job losses that will be needed to bring inflation back under control