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Putin sticks his nose in the entire world's business....like I said before you can take the boy out of the KGB...you just can't take the KGB out of the boy. And how and for whatever reason it happened...Putin's biggest problem isn't the President or politicians or western world leaders....it's the people of the US and Western Nations of all political stripes. Western public opinion is Putin's worst nightmare right now. This is similar to the story of Icarus
Quote:
He created massive wings out of candle wax and feathers and set out, flying across the Mediterranean Sea. However, Icarus got swept up in the wonder of flight and drifted too close to the sun, causing the wax to melt and resulting in his death.
That about sums it up. Putin's prospects are not bright.
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko continued to set informational conditions to resist Russian pressure to enter the war against Ukraine by claiming that NATO is preparing to attack Belarus. Lukashenko blamed Ukraine and NATO for a growing number of provocations near the Belarus-Ukrainian border and stated that Ukraine is trying to drag NATO forces into the war. Lukashenko stated that Belarusian officials managed to deter a potential adversary from using military force against Belarus and that NATO is building up forces and intensifying combat training in neighboring countries. The Belarusian Minister of Defense Viktor Khrenin stated that there is no direct preparation for war and that Belarus will only defend its territory. Ukrainian Main Military Intelligence Directorate (GUR) representative Vadym Skibitsky reported that there are no signs of the formation of a strike group on Belarusian territory. Lukashenko and Khrenin likely made the comments to bolster what ISW has previously assessed as an ongoing information operation aimed at fixing Ukrainian forces on the border with Belarus in response to the threat of Belarus entering the war. Lukashenko and Khrenin also likely focused the information operation on supposed NATO aggression and provocative activities along the Belarusian border to suggest that the Belarusian military needs to remain in Belarus to defend against potential NATO aggression, and thus set informational conditions for resisting Russian pressure to enter the war in Ukraine. ISW continues to assess that Belarusian entry into the Russian war on Ukraine is extremely unlikely.
At best Putin has been an irritating gnat on the world stage...Romney was actually correct to point that out during the 2012 election although he was ridiculed for it at the time. You can take the boy out of the KGB but you can't take the KGB out of the boy...Putin is no friend to the US and it was the right side of the isle in the US that understood that from a national security point of view and those views are very much intact today. I think one of the primary reasons this invasion penetrated so deeply across the globe is because of it's location. To see an actual war of aggression break out in this part of Europe was simply unconscionable to most people, I mean it was totally shocking to me. Ukraine suffered from some of the largest bloodiest battles in all of WW2 and never in a million years did I think something like this was possible. It was like some kind of contract had been broken. This riveted the entire globe and fortunately the globe is responding accordingly.
I believe there will have to be negotiations of some kind to end this thing but right now Ukraine would be leaving way too much on the table and it would basically be appeasing Putin. So no go. IMO we should increase our level of commitment and let Ukraine regain as much as they possibly can including Crimea all the while further degrading Russian manpower and equipment. ISW is seeing signs of Russia making the same mistakes again in the Donbas and putting them on the verge of culmination...again. It wouldn't surprise me to see a significant Offensive from Ukraine once the ground has frozen. The more we support Ukraine...the quicker this will end. Just my 2 cents.
It was poor Russian Intelligence.
Why...I don't know, because it didn't take much to figure it out.
The last time Biden was in office...he was a emissary to Ukraine after Russia invaded and took Crimea (and the U S. did next to nothing), and became the Pointman for the Administration.
Not long after...they are feeding him millions through his son (who does not speak the language) for a scam board position in a industry he had no experience.
They even fire a Prosecutor looking into this scam, after Biden threatens to withhold a Billion in aid.
Showing even more allegiance...they refuse to expose or investigate it when asked to. The person asking gets impeached...for asking.
They have the goods on Biden...he is fully compromised.
Why Putin did not know this...and anticipate the unprecedented aid & support that would come Ukraines' way...is a mystery.
Even though it could not have been predicted that the aid and support would reach the magnitude it has...he had to figure it would be considerable. He should have prepared for that.
I predict he will resort to his own unprecedented measures in response.
We will see.
What is the additional $10 billion in Covid relief? Assuming that’s to the U.S., despite Covid being over according to Biden who declared this on national news, on video.
And what is the slush funds of $14. 5 billion? We could certainly use a few billion over here…..
Per link: “$14.5 billion in direct funding for the country’s government and humanitarian aid, $626 million in energy assistance and $900 million for health care.”
So Belarus, at the moment, is not interested in their military backing Putin's play.
Makes sense.
They’re under the same sanctions as Russia with fewer means to get around them and Russia doesn’t seem to be offering much in compensation for that. At this point, their government has to do what it can to save face and not escalate since active military participation a) would not be popular there and b) would remove military forces from the country that Lukashenko needs to keep local to suppress any civilian protests against the government.
So Belarus, at the moment, is not interested in their military backing Putin's play.
Makes sense.
Lukashenko is very much aware that the only reason he's still in power is because Russia stepped in during the election protests in Belarus, and also that Russia's invasion of Ukraine is unpopular with Belarusians. He knows full well that sh*t would hit the fan and splatter all over his face if he attempted to join the war against Ukraine. It would be the end of his rule, if not himself personally, since Russia is not in much of a position to help prop him up this time.
Taking to its Telegram social media page, the airline suggested that rather than watching inflight entertainment, passengers could instead take “take stock of the year” and perhaps make a wish list or write plans for the new year ahead.
Aeroflot promised, however, that the “refusal of foreign suppliers to provide this service” would only temporarily take streaming entertainment off the air and that the airline was already working on a domestic solution to get around sanctions.
Wonder if the hackers that Aeroflot’s going to be relying on to get pirated content back up on the IFE systems are working from Georgia, Turkey, or the Baltics because it seems like a lot or Russians with portable jobs aren’t in Russia anymore.
It was poor Russian Intelligence.
Why...I don't know, because it didn't take much to figure it out.
The last time Biden was in office...he was a emissary to Ukraine after Russia invaded and took Crimea (and the U S. did next to nothing), and became the Pointman for the Administration.
Not long after...they are feeding him millions through his son (who does not speak the language) for a scam board position in a industry he had no experience.
They even fire a Prosecutor looking into this scam, after Biden threatens to withhold a Billion in aid.
Showing even more allegiance...they refuse to expose or investigate it when asked to. The person asking gets impeached...for asking.
They have the goods on Biden...he is fully compromised.
Why Putin did not know this...and anticipate the unprecedented aid & support that would come Ukraines' way...is a mystery.
Even though it could not have been predicted that the aid and support would reach the magnitude it has...he had to figure it would be considerable. He should have prepared for that.
I predict he will resort to his own unprecedented measures in response.
We will see.
An intriguing theory, if not for a small factual detail: The Russian plan failed all on its own before a single first-aid kit arrived from the West. Ukraine's armed forces fought back the decapitation strike on Kyiv all on their own, and that threw the entire Russian plan into disarray. The Russian armed forces planned to arrive as a bunch of armed goons to enforce a new Russian puppet government. (That's the sort of thing they do well.) They had no Plan B.
If the airborne strike on Kyiv had succeeded and Zelensky had accepted the ride, Ukraine would be occupied, her armed forces beaten in the field and troublesome elements in the population "filtered" to either a shallow grave or a camp in Russia. But it didn't.
It was Russian incompetence and Ukrainian resilience that created the opportunity for the West to support Ukraine in a meaningful way. (Probably some luck, too.) And you can hate Joe Biden all you want, but there was no way he could have planned for those to coincide.
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