Russia, Ukraine, and Trumplicans

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Message to Russian troops from Kyiv's Defenders.

Ukraine is holding its own to Putin's surprise and consternation. He sent untrained young men who don't really want to be there. Saw one report that Ukraine had captured 200 Russian soldiers, all around 19 years old. The Ukrainians are letting them call their parents. Saw another report that the Russian soldiers were looting food from Ukrainian stores. Apparently the Russian generals thought that the invasion would be short and swift and didn't figure on needing a lot of food, or gas for that matter, for their army. Ukrainians are blocking roadways and in one instance at least caused a Russian tank to turn around and leave. Kyiv is still unoccupied, Russia still does not have control of the air over Ukraine, the citizens are weaving camouflage nets, collecting arms, making molotov cocktails and joining the fight alongside their soldiers while surrounding nations are sending munitions and other supplies to Ukraine. Meanwhile the Russians are targeting everything...kindergartens, residential buildings, emergency vehicles.

Russia has become a pariah to the world with massive protests and sanctions against the country and it's oligarchs and come Monday, their economy is going to come crashing down. Even his 'allies' are remaining silent or coming out against the invasion with massive protests in Russia and other Eastern European countries and the Russian oligarchs, unhappy that their assets and properties are being seized or frozen, are starting to put pressure on Putin. In response Putin is using the threat of nuclear retaliation, of course he is, but at the same time he has had Belarus intercede with Ukraine to hold ceasefire talks with Russia. Ukraine has agreed though Zelensky says he doesn't expect there will be a positive outcome. This is more likely an attempt to lure Zelensky out to be captured or killed as Russia has done in the past.

None of this has gone as Putin expected or hoped, surprised I think by the unified response of the Ukrainians. Trump was supposed to be reelected after setting the stage for the Russian takeover of Ukraine. Trump did as he was told, doing his best to destroy NATO, pulling us out of the Open Skies treaty, handing Putin sensitive national security intelligence, refusing to send the money to Ukraine for it's national defense which might have never been uncovered if not for Vindman. Trump would not have objected to the invasion, no sanctions would have been applied. Even now Trump calls Putin a genius and the invasion a smart move with certain Russian asset GOP congresspeople supporting Putin instead of standing united against him with the administration, while Russian flags with TRUMP written across the blue stripe are circulating at CPAC this weekend. The Republican party in general is using this invasion to try and undermine Biden, calling him weak when they know that Biden is anything but weak and has refused to be cowed by Putin unlike Trump who would come out of his meetings, from which he barred the American press, with the Russian authoritarian with his head hanging. The GOP likes to point out that Putin didn't invade Ukraine while Trump was in office but the fact is Trump was giving Putin everything he wanted to insure his eventual invasion succeeded.

Putin has put his nuclear forces on high alert, laying the blame on NATO countries and the West's support for Ukraine and sanctions against Russia which has made Putin feel threatened even as he continues his invasion. Surely Putin isn't so far around the bend that he would actually use them instantly insuring that Russia is destroyed in kind. We haven't seen this level of threat of nuclear weapons since the Cold War. I'm not going to fear a nuclear holocaust. I've been through that already. I lived through the Cold War, with nuclear annihilation hanging over us daily, with nuclear bomb drills at school, with the extra emergency pantry that was supposed to hold a year's worth of canned food as if any of that would have saved anyone and living in fear of that will not stop it from happening.