Unfortunately we’re very much involved because your Neocons and chickenhawks have never met a war they didn’t want other people to fight with our weapons and money.
not just a fight, a "blood feud", that makes it mroe serious??. Chechnya would likely prevail btu would also likely bring fighters home to do so. at the end of the day, less meat for putin to waste in ukraine, sadly...I just wonder how other regions are going to react when the see a weakened Russia. will they be emboldened to deny conscription or otherwise challenge Moscow??? what other blood feuds can the cia stew up about now?
that cheap(er) nat gas is being missed in germany and a few other places but primarily the industrial areas in western europe. i think it is hurting them a little bit. but yes, Putin's options are dwindling. mothers are protesting, republics are fighting, oil and munitions depots are being taken out, ukranian long range capabilities are increasing, sanctions are biting, oil is dropping.... the trend is not his friend, wouldn't want to be his food taster these days, plutonium might not show up for hours...
Steven Segal will die for Putin (calls him “his President”) if need be. Sounds like he’s ready for the western front.
Longer term, increasingly high int rates of course squelch business growth and economic spending. Also decreasing infrastructure spending and Putin will probably cut domestically- education, etc. they are increasing military spending into 2025 and raising taxes. But that’s all a bit longer term impacts. my interest is short term and specifically inflation. It’s currently 9% and hopefully the dropping ruble is indicative of more inflationary pressure. They are trying hard to keep it from spiking. 9% and going up can stress the populace. Maybe time to check again their labor force. 100s of thousands left Russia, in the army fighting, killed or wounded or working making guns. Lack of labor in other industries also drives inflation. But I get Putin has a high tolerance for their pain. But at least it’s having an impact.
if true as reported that could create problems. What would UK do if some are killed from missile attacks? UK is surprisingly hawkish. I wonder if they are waiting for Biden’s approval on long range missile attacks.
The UK has a very good idea on what areas in Western Ukraine are safe for conducting training. Russia understands what happens if a UK trainer is injured.
Once this election is over, we have zero excuse for not doing the same thing. Russia is going to go out of its way not to hit NATO troops, and given how inaccurate their weapons are, that might save several surrounding villages in the area we base them.
Looks like there are still some things that can be done to hinder the Russian war machine. In this case, disrupting the supply chain for Russia's artillery, which produces 70% of Ukraine's battlefield casualties. Russia produces plenty of its own steel, but imports a lot of its chromium. Machining equipment is another thing that Russia imports. War analysts argue the West needs to break the supply chains keeping Russia's deadliest guns firing before it's too late