incredible story, thx. “She got the harrowing clips to an Associated Press team…Russian soldiers captured Taira and her driver the next day, March 16, one of many forced disappearances in areas of Ukraine now held by Russia.”
Putin might reach an internal crisis to such a degree that the only recourse is triggering a wider war and spinning it into an existential threat to get the people back on board. Very troublesome that we are doing so little to prepare for this.
If the war ended today, Putin could easily claim a victory with the land bridge he achieved so far. What’s interesting is that Ukraine won’t let them end the war today. They are fighting for every inch of their own lands. The Ukrainian Will, amongst so many other things, is where Putin grossly miscalculated. He is now in a position where he has no exit strategy.
So this guy does Ukraine updates. This link is to a video of his where Russians were bragging about a fancy piece of artillery, which the Ukranians watched, geolocated it, then promptly blew it up John Aravosis on TikTok
France & Germany continuing their lukewarm support of Ukraine. Kind of tired of them lately, especially France.
People need to stop the appeasement garbage. All it does is give Russia support & a chance to regroup.
Here is some more on India's position with regard to the Ukraine War, and relations with the U.S. and Russia. It seems that India wants to do business with both the U.S. and Russia, buying weapons and oil from Russia and getting assistance from the U.S. Essentially the same policy as Germany, but without a deadline in the distant future to cut off the oil spigot. India has become a U.S. partner in countering China — a limited partner, that is From another article that I read, Russia is not exporting spare parts right now, because they need everything they can get their hands on for Ukraine. One positive for India: the price on Russian equipment and parts, should the war end, should come down dramatically as a result of the performance demonstrated in Ukraine.
No, he does have an exit strategy. It’s just going involve pushing Ukraine to a breaking point where they have no choice but to concede land for (temporary) peace. Putin is gambling that he can execute that plan before the world gets its shit together and actually helps Ukraine. Is he right? He certainly seems to be.
An interesting bit of news: even though China wants to continue doing business with Russia, many of the transactions have stopped. The Russians are not placing orders for things they used to buy from China. It's possibly due to uncertainty from the war. Trade dropped by over 25% in April from the year before. China-Russia relations: Chinese producers lament loss of once-lucrative Russian deals
Unless Putin can put some troops in or around Kiev in the near future, I don't foresee Ukraine reaching a breaking point anytime soon. I admit I thought Ukraine would fold within a month or so, but they have proven much tougher adversaries than Russia bargained for. They seem to be fairly well-supplied, and that situation is improving by the day. (Keeping Zelenskyy alive is also a key, obviously.) And with all of the destruction in Donbas, I suspect that a lot of pro-Russian people in the region may have become anti-Russian (or at least neutral). Russia is losing friends faster than they are losing enemies.
I agree with that, and I don’t think Russia would have a quick or easy time with that strategy. But a deliberate, measured advance across Ukraine would eventually cause Ukraine to sue for peace unless allies come their aid with military force. If (big if, of course) Russia can outlast its internal turmoil and does not do anything outside of the box that would force the U.S. to take action, then they can probably win. And if I was Putin, then that would be how I saw it right now.
Good. He did an awful thing but under orders, so didn't deserve execution. Hopefully he cooperates with authorities to bring others to justice.
India should be asking itself if spare parts will ever be available as long as Russia is on the pariah list. They should also be wondering if the weapons they have will actually perform if called upon to do so base don what is happening in Ukraine. Playing footsie with India while they continue to kiss Putin isn't working for me.
