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二 |     Scott Ritter, a military analyst and former US Marine Corps intelligence officer, offers his views on the West's motivation to provide continued financial and military assistance to Ukraine, the reasons why the US and EU are choosing to fuel the hostilities instead of encouraging Kiev to negotiate, and reflects on how long Ukraine's beneficiaries in the West will be able to afford such expenses.,Sputnik: The European Union on Wednesday moved to pour additional 500 million euros into Ukraine's military. In a statement on Twitter, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said that EU states remain "focused and steadfast" in their support of Kiev. What goals are the US and EU pursuing by pouring more money into the Ukrainian military?,Scott Ritter: The hope is to transform the conflict that is ongoing in Ukraine as a result of the Russian special military operation into a protracted conflict that can lead to a stalemate that would result in significant Russian costs, both in terms of manpower and military equipment, but also financial costs, and thereby weaken Russia. Ultimately what they are visualizing would be a Ukraine strong enough to evict Russia from its borders.,It's not possible, this is fantasy in the extreme, but it's politically inspired fantasy, meaning that the United States and its European allies have invested so much political capital into propping up the Ukrainian military and the Ukrainian government and the Ukrainian economy that even though most sound analysts understand that not only is Ukraine losing the conflict, but they can never win the conflict. Politically, Western politicians cannot divorce themselves from these policies. So in order to maintain a public perception at home of the chance of a Ukrainian victory, they will continue to squander the wealth of their respective nations.,Sputnik: Why are Western states prolonging the hostilities despite the growing discontent of their populations with economic problems?,Scott Ritter: There's an old saying in the United States that I believe translates into most politics: “when you're explaining, you're losing.” And right now, these politicians would have to explain to their constituents why they were wrong about Ukraine, why they were wrong about Russia. And especially here in the United States, we're dealing with the lead-up to very critical midterm elections. No politician wants to be explaining anything to anybody. They want to be shaping perceptions that build upon past performances. This is all about domestic politics. This has nothing to do with reality.,Sputnik: How dangerous is the decision to provide Ukraine with fighter jets?,Scott Ritter: This is just a fantasy. The people coming up with this apparently are not pilots. They've watched, perhaps, one too many Top Gun movies, and they think that you could just take a pilot, put him or her into any airframe, and have that airframe perform viably in combat situations. Any effort to take a Ukrainian pilot and put that Ukrainian pilot into an American or European fighter with minimal training and then have that fighter employed in combat operations in Ukraine against the Russian Air Force would 100% of the time end up with the Western fighter jet being shot down.,I don't mean to be rude here, but this is a very stupid idea. But we're talking about politics, not sound policy. So it sounds good for a politician to be telling his or her constituents that we are providing the Ukrainians with the best equipment possible to include the top of the line fighter aircraft. What they really should be saying is we are guaranteeing that every Ukrainian pilot we train will die at the hands of the Russian Air Force, because that's what the ultimate outcome will be.,Russia's Special Operation in UkraineUS, Allies Weigh Possibility of Training Ukrainian Pilots20 July, 16:55 GMT,The thing about, especially American, generals is that they are political animals. They didn't get that fourth star necessarily because of their military competence. They got it because they impressed a politician with their political acumen. And so what we have is a general playing politics, a general who is saying what the politicians want to hear. And that's not what his role is. His role is to provide sound military assessment, military advice to the politicians.,But if an American military officer did that today, they couldn't agree with anything that the Biden administration or the US Congress was seeking to do in Ukraine, and therefore they would never get promoted. They would never get a good job. I don't like to denigrate serving military officers, but this is a political decision, not a military decision, even though the man making it wears a military uniform.,Sputnik: Can the West collectively really afford such spending now, at a time of harsh polarization and soaring prices?,Scott Ritter: No, they can't afford it. And we have some nations that are starting to realize this. The German defense minister, who is very hawkish against Russia, has acknowledged that Germany simply has no more weapons to give and they're not in a position to build new weapons. They're worrying about other economic realities. The same holds true with the United States.,US, UK Want to Turn Russia Against Europe by Supplying Ukraine With Weapons, Lavrov Tells Sputnik20 July, 08:51 GMT,At some point time in time, we are going to run out of materiel to give to Ukraine. I read somewhere that with all the HIMARS multiple launch rocket systems we're providing to Ukraine, we're also providing Ukraine with one third of the ammunition stockpiles for the HIMARS, meaning that we, the United States, only have two thirds of our ammunition stores available if we had to go to war, which means we will run out of ammunition.,This is insane, literally insane to be sacrificing the national security of the United States or of a European nation so that politicians can look and sound good for the next couple of weeks. But it will not change the equation on the battlefield in Ukraine. The Ukrainian Army is in an impossible situation. They literally cannot recover from the debacle that has befallen them.,Russia's Special Operation in UkraineScoop: NATO Doesn’t Trust Ukraine With HIMARS, Operating Advanced Artillery Themselves, Source Says21 July, 10:07 GMT,The sad thing is that Ukrainian leaders are buying into the fiction provided by the West of if they just get more weapons, they can successfully defend against Russia. This means that more Ukrainian soldiers are going to die, more Russian soldiers are going to die, and tragically, more Ukrainian civilians are going to suffer.,Sputnik: Leaders of the Group of Seven recently pledged to stand with Ukraine "for as long as it takes." How feasible is this pledge?,Scott Ritter: When the Group of Seven made that, one of the leaders was a guy named Boris Johnson. He's not the leader anymore. The other guy was a gentleman whose last name was Draghi. He's not the leader anymore. I think as the summer and the winter come along, more and more of these leaders are going to be removed from office because it's an unsustainable policy. Politicians have a proclivity for saying things that have no basis in reality. It's very inexpensive for a politician to say "we are going to support you forever.",WorldG7 States Pledge to Provide Ukraine With Military, Diplomatic Aid for as Long as Needed28 June, 11:25 GMT,Forever in what sense? Boris Johnson is not supporting them forever – he's out of power. Draghi is not supporting them forever – he's out of power. And just about everybody who was on that stage at the G7 meeting will be out of power. Suddenly, we have a whole new definition of what "forever" means. It means “not now, not anymore.”。不过中国足协、中足联筹备组考虑到不同俱乐部在落实相关工作过程中遇到的实际困难，决定将这一期限延至7月22日。

三 | 从目前情况看，绝大多数中超俱乐部均欢迎并支持联赛恢复主客场制。部分俱乐部甚至已经确认各自主场场地，包括梅州客家在内的部分俱乐部已经正式回函同意承办本俱乐部队主场比赛。

四 | 考察组分AB组先后对 7家俱乐部场地进行考察 在7月6日进行的职业联赛工作会议暨中超老总峰会上，中足联筹备组通报各俱乐部，本赛季中超联赛余下24轮赛事，也就是第11轮至第34轮赛事计划将于8月5日开始，至12月中旬落幕。比赛拟恢复主客场赛制。为此，赛事主办方已通过各俱乐部向其属地体育管理部门及政府相关其他部门发去了主场申办工作意见征集函，并希望各俱乐部最晚于7月20日将具体意见反馈回来。因承办中超赛事需要满足各类条件，中足联筹备组决定对各俱乐部主场办赛条件进行实地考察。具体考察工作于7月7日，也就是联赛会议结束后第2天正式开始。

五 | 其中A组先后完成了对成都市凤凰山专业球场、武汉市体育中心体育场、五环体育中心体育场、郑州航海体育场；B组先后完成了对深圳龙岗大运体育场、长春市内的一座体育场、济南奥体中心（鲁能大球场）的考察。

六 | 也就是说，成都蓉城、武汉三镇、武汉长江、河南嵩山龙门、深圳、长春亚泰、山东泰山7家中超俱乐部的主场首选场地均已接受了工作组的考察，且这些场地均通过了本轮考察。

七 | 未接受本轮考察的场地 大多此前承办过大型赛事 至于余下中超各俱乐部场地未接受本轮考察，主要是因为其候选主场场馆此前大多曾成功举办过大型体育或足坛赛事，近期也接受过专业团队的考察，或正在承办职业足球赛事。比如，大连人俱乐部属地大连市、梅州客家俱乐部属地梅州市刚刚承办了中超联赛首阶段赛事，其比赛及训练场地自然满足承办主场比赛的条件。本周，从大连赛区传来消息，曾经承接中超联赛首阶段大连赛区部分赛事的大连市普湾体育场将成为大连人队本赛季的主场，相关信息已得到当地有关部门官方确认。浙江足球俱乐部计划将湖州市的一座球场申报为本队主场场地，在此之前，该场地曾作为杭州亚运会备选赛事场地接受过考察，条件亦符合中超办赛要求。广州赛区曾经多次承办过中超比赛，赛区内多座球场还曾成功承接过中国队备战与比赛接待任务，因此只要同城两家中超俱乐部与赛区属地及场地方面达成共识，那么重新承办中超赛事就非常有希望。北京国安、上海两支球队 能否在属地城市比赛还没确定 据了解，部分俱乐部在属地政府部门支持下，于联赛工作会议结束后两三天内就确认可以承办中超主场赛事。包括梅州客家、大连人、长春亚泰、河南嵩山龙门、武汉两家俱乐部在内的部分俱乐部，承接各自主场比赛的前景均比较乐观，有些甚至已经明确可以承办主场比赛。至于北京国安、上海两支球队能否在其俱乐部属地城市进行主场比赛目前还没有确切答案。不过，在过去两个赛季期间，距离上海市地理位置较近的苏州赛区，特别是其中的昆山赛区的球场曾经多次承办过两支上海球队的比赛，还曾承办过“上海德比”，且观众上座率较高。

八 | 因此理论上来说，两支上海球队存在将苏州（昆山）赛区部分场地申报为本俱乐部队主场的可能性。文/本报记者 肖赧