Seems they need to replace some oligarchs as well as they keep having fatal accidents. Must be something in the vodka these days. LOL
Sounds like a power struggle. Honestly, you'd think the oligarchs would take him down eventually. He's costing them billions they'll likely never get back.
Remember that sanctions were intended as economic war, on the Russian people, for the purpose of rousing them to oust Putin. Remember also that many of these oligarchs are rich Russians who hate Putin.
I think the Ukrainians are better trained than their Russian counterparts. Ukraine has had much more reason, since 2014, to get ready for the next war with Russia. They could easily see it coming, and probably realized that as long as Putin was in power, it was inevitable. The Russian army is so rife with corruption that generals were spending military money on themselves every chance they got. The lower level troops see that theft and lack of discipline at the top, and it is demotivating. They were probably just going through the motions with their training. They may have been aware that an additional conflict might happen with Ukraine, and their unit might or might not participate in it, but that is very different from Ukrainian troops knowing since 2014 that an additional conflict was almost certain, and if it happened, they definitely would be participating in it.
No doubt the performance in the field suggests Ukrainians were better equipped and better trained than what we knew. There's been a lot of corruption on the Ukrainian side as well and so I think it's assumed they ignored their military needs in the period of 2014-2022. Poroshenko was in power then. Now being investigated for fraud, right? But the Ukrainians were underestimated, for certain. No doubt about that. Also, Ukrainians are fighting for their existence. They know that Russian rule is a death sentence. NATO ties opens them up to a limitless future. Freedom is a wonderful thing.
Both sides have artillery. The difference being that newly-minted soldiers who are near the blasts, but not close enough to be physically injured, will be mentally disabled (in shock) and too terrified to continue fighting, while Ukraine's battle-hardened veterans will continue fighting because they are used to it. Russia would be wise to start building mental hospitals in Moscow now. And make sure they have good cell phone service, or these "soldiers" will become violent.
Another big advantage that Ukraine has is that the U.S. is providing intel (satellite pictures, etc.) and advice on how to exploit Russian weaknesses. My guess is that the U.S. persuaded Ukraine to bypass Lyman and surround it as opposed to fighting their way through it.
Residents of Donetsk, Lugansk, Kherson and Zaporozhye have been fighting for their freedoms for years now.
Yeah, I mean, it's propaganda for Putin, but he really is now in a quasi proxy-type sort of conflict with the West, because NATO is helping Ukraine in so many ways. Which begs the question why Putin thought he could possibly be successful in this fight. It's a matter of a very rich man never being told no and eventually his ego spiraled out of control. My hope is (for humanity's sake) that Putin is not plagued with the same types of racial hatred and underlying anger that Hitler possessed. His goals seem more imperial in nature, which probably keeps him from getting too crazy with this. In the end, if Putin pisses off enough billionaire oligarchs, it's just a matter of time. His self-isolation is an admission he is concerned about others around him doing him harm. Eventually, Guido is going to get the job done. Just a matter of time.
It’s almost like there’s a pattern ... “This founding false narrative was then embroidered by a consistent pattern of distorted U.S. reporting as the crisis unfolded. Indeed, for the past eight months, we have seen arguably the most one-sided coverage of a major international crisis in memory, although there were other crazed MSM stampedes, such as Iraq’s non-existent WMD in 2002-03, Iran’s supposed nuclear bomb project for most of the past decade, Libya’s “humanitarian crisis” of 2011, and Syria’s sarin gas attack in 2013.” ROBERT PARRY: Who's Telling the 'Big Lie' on Ukraine?
If you were alive in the early-1940's, you would probably complain about the one-sided coverage on WWII, and all of the false narratives about "how bad Hitler allegedly is". "Everything is nuance-free and predicated on Bad Man Hitler. Everyone acts like it's Hitler's fault that the war started." And then you drag out an article from someone who died years before the Ukraine War started as evidence that the Ukraine War coverage is not "fair". Did you dig up the coffin and pry the article out of his bony hands? Was the skeleton still writing the article? Did you get an argument out of it? Or was the article ghost-written by the Maniac of Moscow, the Comrade of Crimea, or the Klepto of Kaliningrad? Have you no shame? Yes, there is a pattern here. One particular poster pushes pathetic propaganda from one of the most evil elements of humanity in the name of providing "nuance".
I am waiting for Comrade to find an article telling us that Russia's torture chambers in Ukraine are for "helping prisoners relax".
Not all artillery is equal. The french and us artillery with precision guided shells are worth 10+:1 a standard old artillery since it only takes 1 shot to hit what would take 10 or more from the standard artillery that russia is using. Once you add in himars and the british missile systems, the rocket/artillery advantage is strongly on the side of Ukraine at this time
he thought it would be over in a week before the west had time to react. he also thought that Ukrainians would welcome the russians. he surrounded himself with people who told him what he wanted to hear and nobody had the stones to tell him the truth. sounds familiar somehow, thankfully our generals told him no
