Vladimir Putin Runs the Table in Ukraine and Shows Joe Biden to Be a Feckless and Unreliable Security Partner

[Clutch]

Vladimir Putin Runs the Table in Ukraine and Shows Joe Biden to Be a Feckless and Unreliable Security Partner​

By streiff | Feb 21, 2022 5:30 PM ET
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AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko
A couple of hours ago, Russian President Vladimir Putin gave a speech that some reflexively anti-Russian pundits called “a declaration of war.” It wasn’t. At least not right now. My colleague, Bonchie, has all the details in Putin Gives a Bonkers Speech on Ukraine, Drops the Last Puzzle Piece in Place for War. The bottom line is that Putin declared he would recognize the de facto independence of the pro-Russian Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Eastern Ukraine. If you are shocked by this, I would submit you should back away from the video game console and start paying attention. Supporting an autonomous status for Donetsk and Luhansk has been Russia’s position since the annexation of Crimea. Since that time, Russia has issued Russian passports, which implies citizenship, to anyone in Donetsk and Luhansk who wants them. To date, about 20% of that population has taken Moscow up on the offer. In the context of this ginned-up “crisis,” it is hardly surprising that Putin would carry through on a move that has been telegraphed for nearly a decade…but wasn’t executed until Joey SoftServe was in the Oval Office.



Besides officially recognizing autonomy for Donetsk and Luhansk, Putin’s speech was boilerplate Russian sniveling that we’ve heard since the USSR imploded some 30 years ago

Is the West just a paper tiger ?

U.S. Believes Putin Will Take All Of Ukraine 'In A Single Blow'​ Chris Menahan InformationLiberation Feb. 21, 2022

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It's looking like Ukraine's decision to elect the equivalent of Jerry Seinfeld as their president and ally wholeheartedly with the West wasn't the greatest idea. From The New York Times, "Blitzkrieg or Minor Incursion? Putin's Choice Could Determine World Reaction.": When President Biden declared on Friday he was convinced President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia had decided to attack Ukraine “in the coming week, in the coming days,” the skeptics among American allies suddenly fell quiet. Hours before, Mr. Biden had informed them that American intelligence agencies had just learned that the Kremlin had given the order for Russian military units to proceed with an invasion. Now the debate has shifted to how Mr. Putin will do it: in one massive nationwide attack; a series of bites that dismantle the country, piece by piece; or a cobralike squeeze. That last option is made all the easier with the news Sunday morning that Belarus is allowing Russian troops to remain indefinitely, where they can menace Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital. Mr. Putin might be betting that he can shatter Ukraine’s economy and oust its government without having to immediately roll in tanks. Mr. Putin’s strategic choices over the next few weeks may make a huge difference in how the world reacts. If he strikes to take the whole country in a single blow — the approach that senior American military and intelligence officials and many outside analysts now think is the most likely — it could provoke the largest, most violent battle for European territory since the Nazi surrender in 1945. There is little question that the full package of sanctions and technology export cutoffs would be invoked almost immediately. International condemnation would follow, though Mr. Putin may be betting that it would not last long, and that the world would gradually get accustomed to a new, larger Russia reconstituting the sphere of influence that was once the hallmark of the old Soviet Union. Gen. Mark Milley told US lawmakers earlier this month that "Kyiv could fall within 72 hours if a full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine takes place," according to Fox News. "Milley told lawmakers during closed-door briefings on Feb. 2 and 3 that a full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine could result in the fall of Kyiv within 72-hours, and could come at a cost of 15,000 Ukrainian troop deaths and 4,000 Russian troop deaths," Fox News reported. Zekensky already left Ukraine once on Friday into Saturday and now "US officials" (probably Antony Blinken) are reportedly urging him to head to Lviv "for his own safety."

 

[tower9]

It doesn't matter who is president, the results would be the same. The US is way overstretched and is writing checks that can't be cashed. That's the core problem.

 

[vi-va]

It doesn't matter who is president, the results would be the same. The US is way overstretched and is writing checks that can't be cashed. That's the core problem.

Even though US is overstretched, the way Joe Biden and Pentagon handling retreat from Afghanistan is ridiculous.

It reveals that US empire is decayed in the core and the society is rotten.