Ukraine defeat would cost the West trillions of dollars, warns James Heappey. The former Armed Forces minister believes stalemate or Russian victory will promise ‘new cold war that will last for decades’

10 comments

1. Victory will only cost like half a trillion. A trillion tops.

   Given Iraq cost $1.1T in 2003-2011 dollars, so 2007 average which in today’s dollars would be $1.7 trillion and fighting Russia is a lot more difficult then fighting Iraq and USA does still tie Ukraines hands on strikes into Russia using USA weapons.

   So I think a $2T total cost is not at all unlikely.

2. This is the truth. At best an extremely long active border from Kharkiv to Odesa, quite quickly sucking in Moldova – at worst Putin on the border of many NATO countries with a permanent guerrilla war in Ukraine which Putin would exploit for further expansion when the Russian military has got back on it’s feet. Smash the Russian as hard as possible now and Putin would be vulnerable to a coup in the Kremlin. Any hint of victory and he will go on and on and on and on….

3. I tend to win on this point when debating friends who are not really familiar with this war. The costs associated with the new cold war will be unlike we ever saw before.

4. It was never about the money. Real Conservatives would have given Ukraine everything they need to win ages ago, but MAGA Republicans only follow the tenets of Conservatism when it suits them.

5. The truth be told, the West gladly accepted the money that poured out of the former Soviet Union. They took the money and let their defense wither on the vine. They never thought that Russia would be a threat again and they were wrong. The people of Ukraine are paying and have been paying the price ever since 2014. Now the West is behind and has to spend billions just to keep their heads above the water not to say to be prepared for the possibility of another world war. Until the West gets into a wartime footing in the production of everything to fight a large-scale conventional/Nuclear war, Putin will remain the biggest threat since Stalin.

6. “The nations of good will that gathered today understand what’s at stake. For Ukaine, for Europe, for the Unites States, and for the World. The outcome in Ukraine will determine the trajectory of our times. If Putin prevails in Ukraine, the security consequences will be grave and global. Europe would see a security threat it has not seen in our life times. As President Biden has noted, Russia will not stop in Ukraine. If the Kremlin gets its way and Putin’s imperial aggression succeeds, every tyrant on Earth will take note. So we have got a rare chance to save (?) the kind of world where our children and grand-children are living. Putin’s war is a frontal assault on the very idea of an open world of rules rights and responsibilities. And over the long haul, the cost of standing firm will be dwarfed by the price of caving in.”

   Lloyd James Austin III – United States secretary of defense

   I think it’s useful to repeat this key message.

7. We will have a new Cold War anyways. The only question is where Ukraine will be and how cocky we allow Russia to be.

8. Has this ever not been said about a war by some military or defense industry guy?

9. A renewed and extended Cold War is just what the Military Industrial Complex wants. It will be very hard to make them accept a victory as it will be bad for profits.

10. It would cost a whole lot than any money.