Putin has always been out there but this is new. He had the Nord Stream 2 pipeline in the works and that would have brought in tons of money. Heck Biden helped him by ripping up Trump's EO that stopped it. Maybe Covid knocked him for a loop and it's messed up his brain. That pic of him sitting at the end of a very long table with his advisors at the other end said a lot about what Covid did to him. He was also known to be germaphobe but still he didn't cringe in photo ops with other heads of states. With the nearly 40 mile long convoy headed to Kyiv, it's going to get ugly real soon. Far far worse that what they have seen so far. And if that doesn't work, don't count out Putin ordering tactical nukes.
I believe they're amping up their attacks out of desperation. They did not have the resources to wage a prolonged campaign, and their collapse will be sped up significantly by the isolation of the sanctions, and the epic (impending) collapse of their economy. Again...the end of battle of thr bulge comes to mind. Lines of russians walking back to russia in defeat, as the war machine strsight up runs out of fuel. Russia. Is. Screwed.
...speaking of movies...another scene comes to mind: Stripes--where China, played by Bill Murray, nods to Russia, played by the late, great, Harold Ramis, and baits the latter to step forward, while China stays comfortably back, and leaves Russia to take the ire of the drill sarge (rest of the world)
Day 6 folks only the beginning. A long slog perhaps. Putin wants capitulation for a greater Russian Glory. Doesn’t want to keep hope alive Internationally and internally pressure will be building. He won’t care. Time makes emotion fade and a new shiny object will distract the world.
Putin attacked from multiple directions. That would put an enormous strain on your logistics capabilities. If he tries to regroup and pick one two axis of approach he may really get bogged down. Than again Russian strategy looks like it’s still pour more bodies into the mix until they’re done. I don’t understand why he didn’t pincer move on Kyiv and maybe take a port. I think he may have overplayed his hand.
That doesn’t mean they aren’t dangerous. If Putin and his enablers are totally OK with turning their own economy into North Korea in order to achieve “victory” over Ukraine, what else is he willing to do? Fiona Hill just had some chilling words. Basically “yes, he would use nukes”. Everyone should read her interview with politico.
From the wayback machine. This article was pre-written assuming Russia had taken over Ukraine by now. It actually was published and subsequently captured by the wayback machine. It was then unpublished because things did not go as Putin had planned. That is pretty embarrassing for Putin, but it does attest to the Russian perspective on this matter, which is Ukraine joining the EU or NATO forced Russia's hand. The Offensive of Russia and the New World - RIA Novosti, 26.02.2022 (archive.org)
I agree. Or thr opposite happens and Putin does something really drastic and crazy. Those are the two end games I see
Doesn't matter what Putin wants. It takes rubles to wage war. What little rubles they had, are evaporating in value faster than he csn even put what remains, to any use. Why did he go with this logistically risky as hell 4 pronged attack? Because he knew he had to win in a matter of days, not weeks, let alone months. Putin isnt stupid. He's desperate. Perhaps even crazy, due to desperation.
Sure, they are dangerous because of their nukes. Not their clunky spendy as hell conventional war machine, that they cant afford to run for any real length of time. They know this. This is a bluff, and the world is calling it. No we cant dismiss the nuclear threat altogether, but we cant nuke them prempively either, bc...MAD. All we can do i suppose, is keep close tabs per intel, see if those nukes go hot, and react then (in which case, were all ***). But under no circumstances, can we dignify any threats along those lines.
It's being reported that countries that agreed to donate planes the Ukraine are no longer doing so. I haven't seen this report anywhere else. Ixnay on the fighter jets to Ukraine….
I agree. No threats of “fire and fury like you’ve never seen”… please. The reports I’ve read, is that despite Putin raising their nuclear alert level, there was no “muscle memory” type response that could be seen out of the Russian military. Nothing observable. That being said, I’d still be on the look out for some sort of lashing out against the west. Some sort of major proxy attack to distract the wests attention.
The irony for Russia and Putin is that even if Ukraine falls and Russia ends up replacing the current of Ukraine leadership with a puppet government, Putin will be worse in one respect than he was before the invasion. NATO is now more unified than it was since the Cold War and even worse as far as Vlad is concerned, the new members of NATO, specifically Poland and the Baltic states but also the other Eastern European members will now be much better armed than they were before his incursion into Ukraine.
Enter China. If China is anything more than Harold Ramis to Bill Murray in that scene I described from Stripes, we'd see more than a few planes over Taiwan (the head fake). We'd likely see something like what you describe (plus money to Russia). Im thinkn China really doesn't give a shit about Russia, and was only guaging to see if the world might br sufficiently distracted by Ukraine to not notice them taking Taiwan--or maybe as precedent. But i dont think they want any part of Russia's radioactive status now.
