Several years ago, I was talking with a fellow Vietnam veteran about our war, and we discussed how it was that the nation with the strongest military was defeated by a small country whose forces were always outnumbered by ours. He said something that rang in my ears the moment he said it:
I am so proud of the president of my adopted county. He is much more than the great comedian everyone knows. He is also an astute businessman
Ukraine is fighting for its country, as we're the Taliban. Russians got ground down yesterday and today too. They are resorting to living off the land as they are running out of supplies. Kadyrov has sent in his assassins but I don't give them long to live. Слава Україні
It is accurately noted that a battle plan lasts until the first shot is fired. From your argument, it appears that if we can hold up our end of the bargain by giving them the tools and support the Ukrainians will do the job. That also sounds like something Churchill might have said in an earlier war.
It has been reported that Poland and Sweden have refused to play against Russia in a World Cup qualifying round because of the invasion. One wonders what the impact would be if FIFA booted the Russians completely. If the average Russian is as passionate a fan as is found in most of the football world that might be a bigger blow to morale than taking away a billionaires yacht.
Thank you for a terrific piece! Certainly watching Putin act all of us must be even more concerned for how the former "president" and the compliant gop fall into line. Surely no one wants anything that even approximates Russia and its system of dictatorship and autocracy. The problem in our country is that the vast majority of people do not have any idea about what is at stake. They've fallen into the trap of the puny notions of Democracy being about individualistic "freedom". The watch the previous "president" fawn over the strong men of the world, and especially Putin and they think that is what is needed in the United States. What we're seeing from Ukraine is what Democracy truly means to a people. There are folks there of course who hope for the Russians to take over. BUT they've been living in a free nation. Once the Russians take over, if they do, they'll likely understand what they failed to understand before, confused as they were with nostalgia for the bad old days. Hind sight is not always accurate. That's true in the U.S. as well. Watch out for that word "again" when it's used in political jargon. It always leads to trouble.
Who doesn't like a story ending with Putin's exit, one way or another, except Putin. Savoring that he is the undoing of himself doesn't ameliorate what this is costing the Ukrainian and Russian people. It is going to mighty hard on a lot of Europeans (gas and oil prices, for a start) and Americans, too. Ukrainians probably have guerilla war to look forward to and, perhaps, a government in exile. Bad people are 'bad' because this is what they do, and if Putin isn't stopped we won't be partying in 2022 or 2023. The consequences of Putin's folly on the USA -- higher inflation, pain at the pump, higher volatility on the stock market.. public opinion of Biden? We just have one more problem to deal with, and it is a tragic one.
I got interrupted while reading this yesterday, so am just getting around to it this morning (Sunday.) I haven't turned on the news, so I don't know what the overnight tragedies entail.
However, I especially like this: "Putin should read Roman history. Caligula wasn’t killed by his many enemies. He was assassinated by his Praetorian Guard.
The regime change that happens may not be in Kyiv.
As for Putin’s Napoleonic megalomania, perhaps the Russia expert Nina Khrushcheva (great grand-daughter of “the Butcher of Ukraine,” Nikita Krushchev, the Ukrainian who “made his bones” by killing 5 million of his countrymen on Stalin’s order in 1933) summed him up best in a Vanity Fair podcast: “He’s a small man of five-six saying he’s five-seven.”
Most of the planes operated by Russian airlines are Boeing and Airbus types. Aside for denying landing rights, the tech sanctions will begin to ground the Russian commercial fleet
I am so proud of the president of my adopted county. He is much more than the great comedian everyone knows. He is also an astute businessman
Ukraine is fighting for its country, as we're the Taliban. Russians got ground down yesterday and today too. They are resorting to living off the land as they are running out of supplies. Kadyrov has sent in his assassins but I don't give them long to live. Слава Україні
It is accurately noted that a battle plan lasts until the first shot is fired. From your argument, it appears that if we can hold up our end of the bargain by giving them the tools and support the Ukrainians will do the job. That also sounds like something Churchill might have said in an earlier war.
It has been reported that Poland and Sweden have refused to play against Russia in a World Cup qualifying round because of the invasion. One wonders what the impact would be if FIFA booted the Russians completely. If the average Russian is as passionate a fan as is found in most of the football world that might be a bigger blow to morale than taking away a billionaires yacht.
Thank you for a terrific piece! Certainly watching Putin act all of us must be even more concerned for how the former "president" and the compliant gop fall into line. Surely no one wants anything that even approximates Russia and its system of dictatorship and autocracy. The problem in our country is that the vast majority of people do not have any idea about what is at stake. They've fallen into the trap of the puny notions of Democracy being about individualistic "freedom". The watch the previous "president" fawn over the strong men of the world, and especially Putin and they think that is what is needed in the United States. What we're seeing from Ukraine is what Democracy truly means to a people. There are folks there of course who hope for the Russians to take over. BUT they've been living in a free nation. Once the Russians take over, if they do, they'll likely understand what they failed to understand before, confused as they were with nostalgia for the bad old days. Hind sight is not always accurate. That's true in the U.S. as well. Watch out for that word "again" when it's used in political jargon. It always leads to trouble.
Who doesn't like a story ending with Putin's exit, one way or another, except Putin. Savoring that he is the undoing of himself doesn't ameliorate what this is costing the Ukrainian and Russian people. It is going to mighty hard on a lot of Europeans (gas and oil prices, for a start) and Americans, too. Ukrainians probably have guerilla war to look forward to and, perhaps, a government in exile. Bad people are 'bad' because this is what they do, and if Putin isn't stopped we won't be partying in 2022 or 2023. The consequences of Putin's folly on the USA -- higher inflation, pain at the pump, higher volatility on the stock market.. public opinion of Biden? We just have one more problem to deal with, and it is a tragic one.
I got interrupted while reading this yesterday, so am just getting around to it this morning (Sunday.) I haven't turned on the news, so I don't know what the overnight tragedies entail.
However, I especially like this: "Putin should read Roman history. Caligula wasn’t killed by his many enemies. He was assassinated by his Praetorian Guard.
The regime change that happens may not be in Kyiv.
As for Putin’s Napoleonic megalomania, perhaps the Russia expert Nina Khrushcheva (great grand-daughter of “the Butcher of Ukraine,” Nikita Krushchev, the Ukrainian who “made his bones” by killing 5 million of his countrymen on Stalin’s order in 1933) summed him up best in a Vanity Fair podcast: “He’s a small man of five-six saying he’s five-seven.”
Most of the planes operated by Russian airlines are Boeing and Airbus types. Aside for denying landing rights, the tech sanctions will begin to ground the Russian commercial fleet
as soon as their stock of parts runs low.
Fascinating stuff!