Sunday, February 27, 2022

Russia, Ukraine, and Trumplicans


I tried to embed the following link but it didn't work. By all means, take the time to view this.

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.



13 comments:

  1. Thank you. I needed to read that.

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  2. Putin will try to save face by nuking Kyiv. You just watch. He has an ego the size of the Russia. He sent the kids in to see what Ukrainians would do. Now that the kids are out of food, water, and fuel, most of them are giving up. Putin is a bastard for sending these kids to die. He is going to pay for all this eventually.

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    1. I don't think he's stupid enough to use a nuke and even if he is stupid enough to order a strike, his underlings would have to be stupid enough to comply. Besides I think the nuclear threat was aimed at the West, not Ukraine.

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  3. Thank you for paying attention and sharing these insights about the unfolding events. I have been purposefully avoiding the news, and I so appreciate reading this and being updated. We wait to see what happens next.

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  4. Your analysis gibes with what I've been reading. It makes me happy that the Ukranians gave him hell, even if Putin ultimately succeeds. As far as nuclear war, I can't wrap my head around what that would look like and at this point in my life I refuse to try.

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  5. Ukraine wants nothing of Russia. They will prevail.

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  6. Absolutely and what an amazing president the comedian has turned out to be but I don't think he will live through this. Zelensky will be murdered as is Putin's way.

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  7. Ukrainian Olga today from hiding said that because this has not gone as Putin expected and that the entire world hates him- he has nothing to lose, he is humiliated and nukes are very likely.

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    1. Putin's nukes aren't aimed at Ukraine but at us. The threat is to get us to back down. He would be foolish to nuke Ukraine being right next door to Russia. No way Russia would not be affected by nuking Ukraine.

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  8. well said and well put together, the Trump enabling is spot on, he had this plan with Putin from the get go...it didn't happen during his 4 years because there was still more ground work they had plotted Im sure, and that was only a test to see if the USA could be next with Trump in the White House. Biden is tough and he does not mince words with the likes of Putin. I don't think he would hesitate to up the ante if Putin escalates. I would blockade his oil supplies heading into International waters next. This would put enormous pressure on his plan.

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  9. I think the scariest things about Putin are his unpredictability and his egotism.

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  10. Oh, what a wonderful post. you said it all. Allowing the troops to call home, indeed.

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  11. I sit here reading your post and think about the made up drama we watched earlier on NCIS. It hit me that we were in much more peril than the people there in the show and we're 'live'. I too lived through the cold war and the storing of food and water. Bomb shelters in the back yard weren't odd, they were the norm. Trump truly should be held accountable as a traitor to the U.S.

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I opened my big mouth, now it's your turn.