How Trump/USA Is Helping Putin Kill Ukrainians
The Patriot Case Study
Hi All,
This week is an anniversary that I was going to mark with a special column, though it will have to wait until next week. It was three years ago this week that I opened up this Substack to paying subscribers. For those of you who remember the dark ages, I started this Substack in November 2022 as a place where I could publish my weekend updates on the Russo-Ukraine War. I did that for a few months and people started asking for more content and in February 2023 I added the option for subscribers to pay for occasional piece, with the promise that the Weekend Updates will always be free.
And here we are three years later.
I have always made well more than half of my content free for all. However, having the paying subscribers has allowed me to devote the time and effort into making this Substack what it has become. See, you are all responsible.
Anyway, as a way of saying thanks, I have been working on a special column outlining what I have learned over the last three years. However as this week went on, more and more the message that Trump is out actively to help Putin seemed to be understood (finally). And just as importantly, the Ukrainians also seem to be losing some of their reticence in discussing just how they have been “played” by the USA this last year. As such I thought I would write this piece first, as it provides what I would argue is the best case study of how Trump/USA is helping Putin kill Ukrainians.
Before that, I just wanted to say that last night I was on Simon Rosenberg’s fabulous Substack, The Hopium Chrionicles. We discussed US politics, Trump working with Putin and a host of other issues. Have a watch if you’re interested.
The Case Study
Background
Patriot Anti-Air systems/missiles have become arguably the single most important layer in Ukraine’s integrated air defense network. They are the most advanced and expensive element of that system on a unit-cost basis and are a combat tested.
