Feels like Zelensky, Biden, and NATO are playing their hand almost perfectly for their individual end goals. Perhaps the off ramp for Putin is that he just literally runs out of men and machinery to get anything done militarily, at which point the only point of a nuclear weapon is to end the world, and we hope he’s not that crazy or the people around him aren’t.
This seems like continued madness given the way things have gone. The west’s resolve is only going to grow, we’re only going to be able to give more help and more efficient help, and he’s going to have fewer men and fewer resources the longer this drags out. Plus it’s even muddier.
Two different gas company executives killed their wife and daughter and then themself, one day apart.
This the kind of ultimate leverage that Trump can only dream about. When a US leader obtains the power to kill political enemies, judges, etc. - our democracy is 100% done.
I mean it crossed my mind Putin might do something he thinks will help Le Pen (or wait to do something he thinks will hurt her), but I don’t have the imagination these people do.
If this description is accurate, Putin is completely full of shit, and he can’t get to these guys. And if supplies are getting in, they might be able to hold out indefinitely.
i don’t think this is a matter of kompromat, although certainly wouldn’t be the first, or even only living chancellor to have connected with kremlin. under almost any other circumstance, it is understandable, the war and western aid have ratched up very quickly for a regional conflict, and the guy has literally just got the job.
otoh, it’s pretty clear that putin isn’t a “reasonable” autocrat (by german diplomatic standards) like kaczynski or orban, or even erdogan and trmp. you can create a pretty accurate account of putin as a combination of assad, milosevic, and worse. if you don’t give military aid now, when exactly is it going to be appropriate? won’t it just become a need for more military aid soon?
Even if that is the case I still think that the Ukraine cant afford to lose the Donbass. Once Russia got it, it will be impossible for the Ukraine to take it back with the weapons they currently have. And I am not sure they get weapons from us to retake lost parts of their country.
I was reading about that last night but there weren’t any casualty reports yet. Said they hit a command center that had something like 50 officers present.
Yeah it’s just based on what Ukraine says for now. Wikipedia hasn’t put them on their list yet as they don’t have names, and there might be a delay to get confirmation. Like after the funerals.
If I’m not mistaken, Ukraine’s info has been pretty accurate, though not 100%, on previous reports.
Seen a couple smart looking people suggesting that these loitering drones combined with US signals intel will make being a Russian officer very dangerous in Ukraine.