Is it possible that Putin made the gambit and lost? That Biden got the NATO allies to act together and now full on invasion would be too disastrous for Putin and Russia economically? However, he can't just go home emptyhanded. So, he recognizes the rebel areas held by his troops already (and those loyal to him), and gets to declare vict…
Is it possible that Putin made the gambit and lost? That Biden got the NATO allies to act together and now full on invasion would be too disastrous for Putin and Russia economically? However, he can't just go home emptyhanded. So, he recognizes the rebel areas held by his troops already (and those loyal to him), and gets to declare victory and go home? For Ukraine, they haven't really lost control of more land, as they weren't holding those easternmost areas. For Putin, he gets to make a statement and move some troops into the area without incurring the full sanctions regime. He gets to say he's gotten a victory but he is really slinking off.
I guess we will know in a few days, but it hit me that they were saying he'd been outmaneuvered, but needs a face saving way to call it off.
Anyway, that's what I was thinking. And if I'm right, "Sleepy Joe" just kicked some a**.
Belarus has Russian groups on the border with Ukraine and now also Lithuania. Ukraine first, then Moldova, Lithuania, Poland… I expect Hungary and his bff Oban will be doing some backstabbing in the EU in the meantime… Putin doesn’t want a local war - he wants a world war 3 (and it started today).
I am counting on Biden to continue kicking butt, but boy this is scary.
It is very scary. China is saber-rattling in Australia’s economic exclusionary zone, far outside the South China Sea. WW3 early steps are in motion. I believe the reliance by too many endowments, retirement portfolios, and other investments on stock markets for growth during these years of low interest rates is a major impediment to kicking out oligarchical money laundering.
“Arthur Neville Chamberlain FRS (/ˈtʃeɪmbərlɪn/; 18 March 1869 – 9 November 1940) was a British politician of the Conservative Party who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from May 1937 to May 1940. He is best known for his foreign policy of appeasement, and in particular for his signing of the Munich Agreement on 30 September 1938, ceding the German-speaking Sudetenland region of Czechoslovakia to Nazi Germany led by Adolf Hitler.”
I am sure that Washington had the Sudetenland 1938 ‘peace in our time’ appeasement when they crafted the Biden Doctrine to thwart Putin’s grandiose Lebensraum (‘living space’) delusions. In October, 2021, with irrefutable evidence that Putin was assembling a prospective invasion force on Ukraine’s border, President Biden knew that we could not militarily stop a Russian invasion of its neighbor.
As riposte the Biden Doctrine has greatly escalated the cost to Putin and Russia of any Lebensraum creep, while providing enhanced NATO support elsewhere in Eastern Europe. NO APPEASEMENT THIS TIME!
Lisa ‘Biden Doctrine’ is my phrase for President Biden’s full court press a against Putin’s efforts to push the West out of Eastern Europe and establish Russian hegemony over former Soviet satellites in Eastern Europe. This is my catch phrase for everything Biden has initiated to organize broad economic sanctions, increase NATO physical presence in Eastern Europe, and vigorously expose Putin’s misinformation program intended to obscure his Lebensraum (see my earlier commentary this morning) efforts in Eastern Europe.
Thanks, Keith, for this. It's a great phrase to include all the things Biden has done to stop Putin's agression. And Biden sees clearly the movement of authoritarian leaders, especially Putin, to test and overcome democracy.
H.A. Thanks for the reminder about the consequences of appeasement. Now, in today's world, Chamberlain's mistake looks less like a mistake and more like a practical move to attempt to minimize dead bodies.
Unfortunately, Hitler was more interested in dead bodies than anything else in his sorry life.
Chamberlain did not get the rest of Europe lined up against Hitler before going into diplomacy. There were no cyber attacks, and far less cross border dependence. Britain's deterrent capability was pretty minimal at the time. These are not true now. As I said, Biden and the west were dealt a weak hand, but they seem to be playing it well and together. Maybe Putin still moves, but this might have been a face saving move before most of his troops back off. I don't know.
Some historians give Chamberlain credit for realizing that the British military was far from being mobilized. [An extra year facilitated the rapid production of Spitfires and Hurricanes that proved vital in the Battle of Britain.] Also, France, with its coalition governments, was in no position to support Chamberlain with a ‘line in the sand’ riposte to Hitler.
Churchill was bleating from the back benches while Chamberlain was between a rock and a hard place.
You make points about Chamberlain that I hadn't thought of. It was damn lucky we got into the war. I don't know whether our allies could have done it without us. Our industrial might was critical.
David You are spot on. There were a series of events that brought us into the war, FDR, early on, feared Hitler. He sought carefully to bring Americans from their isolationist views (‘We fought in WW I and look what happened. We shouldn’t fight another European war.’) In fact Charles Lindbergh was leading the isolationist America First movement.
After WW II broke out in Europe, FDR was desperately (and slyly) seeking to help England. Some of his top military aides said it couldn’t survive, after Hitler took France. Also, there were Neuttality Acts that severely limited what assistance America could provide to those fighting Hitler.
Churchill, British PM in May, 1940, tried desperately to bring America into the war. WE started a military draft in 1940. A year later it was renewed by only one vote in Congress. FDR was able to launch an extraordinary Lend Lease programs that enabled us to provide massive military aid to England.
Hitler helped the situation by invading the Soviet Union in June, 1941. After Pearl Harbor on Dec 7, 1841, FDR declared war on Japan on Dec 8th. The clear opinion is that he could not have declared war on Germany at that time. Hitler made a monumental error by declaring war on us on December 11th. Without us (and the Soviet Union) the war in Europe could have turned out quite differently.
I remember the Pearl Harbor investigation in which Admiral Kimmel and General Short were made the scapegoats for a deep and diverse American failure to anticipate such a Hail Mary. We see this every Monday, once sports ‘analysts’ know the results. There was lots of naysaying when President Truman bet the ranch on a dicey Berlin Airlift in 1948. Ultimately the naysayers did a back flip.
I don't think he wants a shooting war. I think he wants to intimidate with his armed forces. He is spending a lot of Russia's money on keeping them mobilized. He thought he would get another Crimea, but I think the stakes have been made a lot higher. Like most bullies, he wants to scare and get what he wants. I think the most brilliant thing that's been done is the west outing all the possible false flag operations ahead of time. It's like calling out a narcissist's next temper tantrum right before they do it.
I agree, Danny. While it is all fluid and terribly dangerous, I agree that Putin's enormous ego and probably his miscalculation of Biden caused him to think that taking control of Ukraine would be met with little resistance. I'm sure that his long-term goal is to reassemble the former Soviet "empire." Joe Biden calling his cards and also having united fractious NATO members was not what Putin expected. Part of the calculus might also have been that there is a lot of resistance among Russian citizens, no matter that they're not free to demonstrate. Your last sentence says it all - "If it works."
What might keep him at bay would be our success in keeping the Republicans out of control here. I think that Putin, like many here and elsewhere, thought that President Biden was a doddering fool. He has proved otherwise.
Since Crimea, Russians use a phrase “we don’t mind doing it again” referring to World War II, as a semi joking threat to the West. Russians may not want a war with Ukraine, but if Putin offers them a war with the US, they might be much more interested.
No. In Russia there are (unfortunately) a number of crazed bloodthirsty goons in high places, but don't believe the propaganda.
I'd expect to find a far greater proportion of those in the general population in America, with absurd arsenals to boot.
Bear in mind, Russia is an occupied country, under the heel of bandits. America came very close to suffering a similar fate and no one in the world can be safe until the home-grown political hoodlums have been dealt with.
I sincerely hope you are right. I am afraid that Putin and many Russian people don’t have “human lives saved” as a measurement of success. It’s very much like Republicans focus on owning the Libs. To me it comes from patriarchal notions that feminine values (like counting children killed) is for weaklings. Real men through their life into the fire and teach the feminine west a lesson in toughness.
No, be very careful what you project onto the people of that vast country ruled by a mean, resentful backyard Capone who couldn't feel for other beings if he wanted to.
For one thing, American propaganda is infinitely more effective than Russian (but no less pernicious). The regime's down to the bottom-of-the-barrel motivation: fear.
Most of the people just want to get on with living their hard lives. Or, in the case of the upwardly mobile, to get on with living it up.
Yes. Also Latvia. Lt. Col. Vindman just stated on the ReidOut that Finland and Sweden, long reluctant to join NATO, are now considering it. BTW, Moldova, Lithuania, Latvia and Poland are all members of NATO. Interestingly (concerningly), Russia controls a small patch of Russian land (Kaliningrad) which is between Poland & Lithuania and is not contiguous with Russia.
I hope and pray that you are correct...although I suspect Putin is still looking for an excuse to go in with all guns blazing--his "fiery assertion" that Russia created the Ukrainian state and therefore it was and would forever belong to Russia. The true history of the Ukraine differs greatly from the fantasy that Putin either believes (doubtful), or which he cynically espouses. To me the speech seems designed to provoke any patriotic Ukrainian citizen into anger and/or unwise actions that would provide Putin's excuse.
I just hope the sanctions are severe enough to hurt Putin and the Russian oligarchs enough to make them think a couple more times than twice about the risk that Putin is taking. action
For me it's just a feeling. I've had a lot of personal experience with those who would be bullies, and this sounds like the thug who took your lunch box and has claimed he didn't have it for the past 6 months, now showing up and writing his name on it in Sharpie. You've not had the lunch box for a while, but he had to do something because when he tried to take your new one, 10 of your friends were there taking videos. (I'm stretching the analogy, and I may be wrong, but I wondering if now he's making a face saving show.)
It is a bread basket, and it's much more than that. It has all kinds of resources that Putin would love to get his hands on. Here's a summary that's been making the rounds:
Jeff Larivee
F9fe7t07brufacry 1p3 1o438alt 2:2e3d3 PihM ·
For those who ask: “Why does Ukraine matter?" This is why Ukraine matters: 🇺🇦
It is the second largest country in Europe by area and has a population of over 43 million persons - more than Poland by about 6 million.
Ukraine ranks:
1st in Europe in proven recoverable reserves of uranium ores;
2nd place in Europe and 10th place in the world in terms of titanium ore reserves;
2nd place in the world in terms of explored reserves of manganese ores (2.3 billion tons, or 12% of the world's reserves);
2nd largest iron ore reserves in the world (30 billion tons);
2nd place in Europe in terms of mercury ore reserves;
3rd place in Europe (13th place in the world) in shale gas reserves (22 trillion cubic meters)
4th in the world by the total value of natural resources;
7th place in the world in coal reserves (33.9 billion tons)
Ukraine is an important agricultural country:
1st in Europe in terms of arable land area;
3rd place in the world by the area of black soil (25% of world's volume);
1st place in the world in exports of sunflower and sunflower oil;
2nd place in the world in barley production and 4th place in barley exports;
3rd largest producer and 4th largest exporter of corn in the world;
4th largest producer of potatoes in the world;
5th largest rye producer in the world;
5th place in the world in bee production (75,000 tons);
8th place in the world in wheat exports;
9th place in the world in the production of chicken eggs;
16th place in the world in cheese exports.
Ukraine can meet the food needs of 600 million people.
Ukraine is an important industrialised country:
1st in Europe in ammonia production;
Europe's 2nd’s and the world’s 4th largest natural gas pipeline system;
3rd largest in Europe and 8th largest in the world in terms of installed capacity of nuclear power plants;
3rd place in Europe and 11th in the world in terms of rail network length (21,700 km);
3rd place in the world (after the U.S. and France) in production of locators and locating equipment;
3rd largest iron exporter in the world
4th largest exporter of turbines for nuclear power plants in the world;
4th world's largest manufacturer of rocket launchers;
4th place in the world in clay exports
4th place in the world in titanium exports
8th place in the world in exports of ores and concentrates;
9th place in the world in exports of defence industry products;
10th largest steel producer in the world (32.4 million tons).
Ukraine matters. That is why its independence is important to the rest of the world. 🇺🇦
How so have we kicked butt? The sanctions imposed mirror what Obama did after the invasion of Crimea. See the link below. I can’t find broad, strong, sanctions against Russia from the annexation of Crimea. Do they exist? It seems that we are now sanctioning the economy and people in Ukraine once again, rather than the economy and citizens in Russia. President Biden promised severe sanctions if Ukraine was invaded. I don’t think the current sanctions meet that standard.
Unfortunately I believe it's a genuine 'Catch 22'! We've got the keys to the money box, but if we unlock it the Taliban will likely 'take the money and run'!
My point is, Biden was dealt a very weak hand, but by bringing NATO together, he has raised the stakes of a full on invasion so much that Putin may well be doing a face saving move and stopping. I don't know. If that is what happened, then yes, he's kicked butt. If it hasn't, no. As for the post-Crimea sanctions, they were after the fact, and they have hurt Russia's economy, but not Putin and the oligarchs personally. Apparently, these new ones will do more against both, and they are being threatened before the potential invasion.
" For Putin, he gets to make a statement and move some troops into the area without incurring the full sanctions regime." Nonetheless, the Donbas is an additional tent that the Russian camel has inserted his nose. Belarus is the primary tent. So far. With arms and troops in both locations, Putin is positioned to move further when and if he decides to do so unless the sanctions are effective. Remains to be seen.
Is it possible that Putin made the gambit and lost? That Biden got the NATO allies to act together and now full on invasion would be too disastrous for Putin and Russia economically? However, he can't just go home emptyhanded. So, he recognizes the rebel areas held by his troops already (and those loyal to him), and gets to declare victory and go home? For Ukraine, they haven't really lost control of more land, as they weren't holding those easternmost areas. For Putin, he gets to make a statement and move some troops into the area without incurring the full sanctions regime. He gets to say he's gotten a victory but he is really slinking off.
I guess we will know in a few days, but it hit me that they were saying he'd been outmaneuvered, but needs a face saving way to call it off.
Anyway, that's what I was thinking. And if I'm right, "Sleepy Joe" just kicked some a**.
Belarus has Russian groups on the border with Ukraine and now also Lithuania. Ukraine first, then Moldova, Lithuania, Poland… I expect Hungary and his bff Oban will be doing some backstabbing in the EU in the meantime… Putin doesn’t want a local war - he wants a world war 3 (and it started today).
I am counting on Biden to continue kicking butt, but boy this is scary.
It is very scary. China is saber-rattling in Australia’s economic exclusionary zone, far outside the South China Sea. WW3 early steps are in motion. I believe the reliance by too many endowments, retirement portfolios, and other investments on stock markets for growth during these years of low interest rates is a major impediment to kicking out oligarchical money laundering.
Yes! I haven't even been able to do a deep dive into the 'China syndrome' that is unfolding!
Some relevant history on appeasement.
From WiKi.
“Arthur Neville Chamberlain FRS (/ˈtʃeɪmbərlɪn/; 18 March 1869 – 9 November 1940) was a British politician of the Conservative Party who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from May 1937 to May 1940. He is best known for his foreign policy of appeasement, and in particular for his signing of the Munich Agreement on 30 September 1938, ceding the German-speaking Sudetenland region of Czechoslovakia to Nazi Germany led by Adolf Hitler.”
I am sure that Washington had the Sudetenland 1938 ‘peace in our time’ appeasement when they crafted the Biden Doctrine to thwart Putin’s grandiose Lebensraum (‘living space’) delusions. In October, 2021, with irrefutable evidence that Putin was assembling a prospective invasion force on Ukraine’s border, President Biden knew that we could not militarily stop a Russian invasion of its neighbor.
As riposte the Biden Doctrine has greatly escalated the cost to Putin and Russia of any Lebensraum creep, while providing enhanced NATO support elsewhere in Eastern Europe. NO APPEASEMENT THIS TIME!
Lisa ‘Biden Doctrine’ is my phrase for President Biden’s full court press a against Putin’s efforts to push the West out of Eastern Europe and establish Russian hegemony over former Soviet satellites in Eastern Europe. This is my catch phrase for everything Biden has initiated to organize broad economic sanctions, increase NATO physical presence in Eastern Europe, and vigorously expose Putin’s misinformation program intended to obscure his Lebensraum (see my earlier commentary this morning) efforts in Eastern Europe.
Thanks, Keith, for this. It's a great phrase to include all the things Biden has done to stop Putin's agression. And Biden sees clearly the movement of authoritarian leaders, especially Putin, to test and overcome democracy.
thanks from me too!
H.A. Thanks for the reminder about the consequences of appeasement. Now, in today's world, Chamberlain's mistake looks less like a mistake and more like a practical move to attempt to minimize dead bodies.
Unfortunately, Hitler was more interested in dead bodies than anything else in his sorry life.
Appeasement allowed Hitler to take Czechoslovakia, and then all the rest. Please, no appeasement. And still, there are no Churchills.
I think it was too obvious a mistake not to be considered one.
Chamberlain did not get the rest of Europe lined up against Hitler before going into diplomacy. There were no cyber attacks, and far less cross border dependence. Britain's deterrent capability was pretty minimal at the time. These are not true now. As I said, Biden and the west were dealt a weak hand, but they seem to be playing it well and together. Maybe Putin still moves, but this might have been a face saving move before most of his troops back off. I don't know.
Some historians give Chamberlain credit for realizing that the British military was far from being mobilized. [An extra year facilitated the rapid production of Spitfires and Hurricanes that proved vital in the Battle of Britain.] Also, France, with its coalition governments, was in no position to support Chamberlain with a ‘line in the sand’ riposte to Hitler.
Churchill was bleating from the back benches while Chamberlain was between a rock and a hard place.
You make points about Chamberlain that I hadn't thought of. It was damn lucky we got into the war. I don't know whether our allies could have done it without us. Our industrial might was critical.
David You are spot on. There were a series of events that brought us into the war, FDR, early on, feared Hitler. He sought carefully to bring Americans from their isolationist views (‘We fought in WW I and look what happened. We shouldn’t fight another European war.’) In fact Charles Lindbergh was leading the isolationist America First movement.
After WW II broke out in Europe, FDR was desperately (and slyly) seeking to help England. Some of his top military aides said it couldn’t survive, after Hitler took France. Also, there were Neuttality Acts that severely limited what assistance America could provide to those fighting Hitler.
Churchill, British PM in May, 1940, tried desperately to bring America into the war. WE started a military draft in 1940. A year later it was renewed by only one vote in Congress. FDR was able to launch an extraordinary Lend Lease programs that enabled us to provide massive military aid to England.
Hitler helped the situation by invading the Soviet Union in June, 1941. After Pearl Harbor on Dec 7, 1841, FDR declared war on Japan on Dec 8th. The clear opinion is that he could not have declared war on Germany at that time. Hitler made a monumental error by declaring war on us on December 11th. Without us (and the Soviet Union) the war in Europe could have turned out quite differently.
Good point. It's easy to be the Monday morning quarterback.
I remember the Pearl Harbor investigation in which Admiral Kimmel and General Short were made the scapegoats for a deep and diverse American failure to anticipate such a Hail Mary. We see this every Monday, once sports ‘analysts’ know the results. There was lots of naysaying when President Truman bet the ranch on a dicey Berlin Airlift in 1948. Ultimately the naysayers did a back flip.
OH!
I don't think he wants a shooting war. I think he wants to intimidate with his armed forces. He is spending a lot of Russia's money on keeping them mobilized. He thought he would get another Crimea, but I think the stakes have been made a lot higher. Like most bullies, he wants to scare and get what he wants. I think the most brilliant thing that's been done is the west outing all the possible false flag operations ahead of time. It's like calling out a narcissist's next temper tantrum right before they do it.
If it works.
I agree, Danny. While it is all fluid and terribly dangerous, I agree that Putin's enormous ego and probably his miscalculation of Biden caused him to think that taking control of Ukraine would be met with little resistance. I'm sure that his long-term goal is to reassemble the former Soviet "empire." Joe Biden calling his cards and also having united fractious NATO members was not what Putin expected. Part of the calculus might also have been that there is a lot of resistance among Russian citizens, no matter that they're not free to demonstrate. Your last sentence says it all - "If it works."
What might keep him at bay would be our success in keeping the Republicans out of control here. I think that Putin, like many here and elsewhere, thought that President Biden was a doddering fool. He has proved otherwise.
excellent point...but he's going to. have a lot of egg on his face...then what?
In Russia, the media will claim that he came away with eggs. Also on Fox News.
Since Crimea, Russians use a phrase “we don’t mind doing it again” referring to World War II, as a semi joking threat to the West. Russians may not want a war with Ukraine, but if Putin offers them a war with the US, they might be much more interested.
No. In Russia there are (unfortunately) a number of crazed bloodthirsty goons in high places, but don't believe the propaganda.
I'd expect to find a far greater proportion of those in the general population in America, with absurd arsenals to boot.
Bear in mind, Russia is an occupied country, under the heel of bandits. America came very close to suffering a similar fate and no one in the world can be safe until the home-grown political hoodlums have been dealt with.
The Nazis killed 20 million Russians in WWII. I think they do mind doing it again.
I sincerely hope you are right. I am afraid that Putin and many Russian people don’t have “human lives saved” as a measurement of success. It’s very much like Republicans focus on owning the Libs. To me it comes from patriarchal notions that feminine values (like counting children killed) is for weaklings. Real men through their life into the fire and teach the feminine west a lesson in toughness.
No, be very careful what you project onto the people of that vast country ruled by a mean, resentful backyard Capone who couldn't feel for other beings if he wanted to.
For one thing, American propaganda is infinitely more effective than Russian (but no less pernicious). The regime's down to the bottom-of-the-barrel motivation: fear.
Most of the people just want to get on with living their hard lives. Or, in the case of the upwardly mobile, to get on with living it up.
Terrifying....
Yes. Also Latvia. Lt. Col. Vindman just stated on the ReidOut that Finland and Sweden, long reluctant to join NATO, are now considering it. BTW, Moldova, Lithuania, Latvia and Poland are all members of NATO. Interestingly (concerningly), Russia controls a small patch of Russian land (Kaliningrad) which is between Poland & Lithuania and is not contiguous with Russia.
I hope and pray that you are correct...although I suspect Putin is still looking for an excuse to go in with all guns blazing--his "fiery assertion" that Russia created the Ukrainian state and therefore it was and would forever belong to Russia. The true history of the Ukraine differs greatly from the fantasy that Putin either believes (doubtful), or which he cynically espouses. To me the speech seems designed to provoke any patriotic Ukrainian citizen into anger and/or unwise actions that would provide Putin's excuse.
I just hope the sanctions are severe enough to hurt Putin and the Russian oligarchs enough to make them think a couple more times than twice about the risk that Putin is taking. action
Here is an excellent historical summary of the region. https://snyder.substack.com/p/kyivs-ancient-normality-redux?utm_source=url
One could read this as the Russian Federation is historical the step child of the Ukrainian Empire.
Wow. Thank You for this Charlie.
For me it's just a feeling. I've had a lot of personal experience with those who would be bullies, and this sounds like the thug who took your lunch box and has claimed he didn't have it for the past 6 months, now showing up and writing his name on it in Sharpie. You've not had the lunch box for a while, but he had to do something because when he tried to take your new one, 10 of your friends were there taking videos. (I'm stretching the analogy, and I may be wrong, but I wondering if now he's making a face saving show.)
if he's not, he will be... excellent point!
Putin wants the Ukrainian bread basket for the coming drout and food war.
It is a bread basket, and it's much more than that. It has all kinds of resources that Putin would love to get his hands on. Here's a summary that's been making the rounds:
Jeff Larivee
F9fe7t07brufacry 1p3 1o438alt 2:2e3d3 PihM ·
For those who ask: “Why does Ukraine matter?" This is why Ukraine matters: 🇺🇦
It is the second largest country in Europe by area and has a population of over 43 million persons - more than Poland by about 6 million.
Ukraine ranks:
1st in Europe in proven recoverable reserves of uranium ores;
2nd place in Europe and 10th place in the world in terms of titanium ore reserves;
2nd place in the world in terms of explored reserves of manganese ores (2.3 billion tons, or 12% of the world's reserves);
2nd largest iron ore reserves in the world (30 billion tons);
2nd place in Europe in terms of mercury ore reserves;
3rd place in Europe (13th place in the world) in shale gas reserves (22 trillion cubic meters)
4th in the world by the total value of natural resources;
7th place in the world in coal reserves (33.9 billion tons)
Ukraine is an important agricultural country:
1st in Europe in terms of arable land area;
3rd place in the world by the area of black soil (25% of world's volume);
1st place in the world in exports of sunflower and sunflower oil;
2nd place in the world in barley production and 4th place in barley exports;
3rd largest producer and 4th largest exporter of corn in the world;
4th largest producer of potatoes in the world;
5th largest rye producer in the world;
5th place in the world in bee production (75,000 tons);
8th place in the world in wheat exports;
9th place in the world in the production of chicken eggs;
16th place in the world in cheese exports.
Ukraine can meet the food needs of 600 million people.
Ukraine is an important industrialised country:
1st in Europe in ammonia production;
Europe's 2nd’s and the world’s 4th largest natural gas pipeline system;
3rd largest in Europe and 8th largest in the world in terms of installed capacity of nuclear power plants;
3rd place in Europe and 11th in the world in terms of rail network length (21,700 km);
3rd place in the world (after the U.S. and France) in production of locators and locating equipment;
3rd largest iron exporter in the world
4th largest exporter of turbines for nuclear power plants in the world;
4th world's largest manufacturer of rocket launchers;
4th place in the world in clay exports
4th place in the world in titanium exports
8th place in the world in exports of ores and concentrates;
9th place in the world in exports of defence industry products;
10th largest steel producer in the world (32.4 million tons).
Ukraine matters. That is why its independence is important to the rest of the world. 🇺🇦
How so have we kicked butt? The sanctions imposed mirror what Obama did after the invasion of Crimea. See the link below. I can’t find broad, strong, sanctions against Russia from the annexation of Crimea. Do they exist? It seems that we are now sanctioning the economy and people in Ukraine once again, rather than the economy and citizens in Russia. President Biden promised severe sanctions if Ukraine was invaded. I don’t think the current sanctions meet that standard.
https://sanctionsnews.bakermckenzie.com/u-s-government-imposes-comprehensive-sanctions-against-crimea/
Our US "Sanctions" against the Taliban are starving the Afghan people as we speak. Starving them to death.
A bunch of folk who had absolutely nothing to do with 911 are being starved by US.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/20/opinion/afghanistan-starvation-biden.html
Today!
I thought we were releasing Afghanistan money for humanitarian aid. Is the US starving them to death or the Taliban doing so?
Unfortunately I believe it's a genuine 'Catch 22'! We've got the keys to the money box, but if we unlock it the Taliban will likely 'take the money and run'!
I hope you get a chance to read the article Mike posted the link for...! Wow...
It amounts to sloppy population control.
Well stated summary. Thanks Mike for this important link.
My point is, Biden was dealt a very weak hand, but by bringing NATO together, he has raised the stakes of a full on invasion so much that Putin may well be doing a face saving move and stopping. I don't know. If that is what happened, then yes, he's kicked butt. If it hasn't, no. As for the post-Crimea sanctions, they were after the fact, and they have hurt Russia's economy, but not Putin and the oligarchs personally. Apparently, these new ones will do more against both, and they are being threatened before the potential invasion.
" For Putin, he gets to make a statement and move some troops into the area without incurring the full sanctions regime." Nonetheless, the Donbas is an additional tent that the Russian camel has inserted his nose. Belarus is the primary tent. So far. With arms and troops in both locations, Putin is positioned to move further when and if he decides to do so unless the sanctions are effective. Remains to be seen.
Putin has a long term game plan which the Guardian wrote about 20 years ago. It's about the world. He may experience setbacks, but he won't stop.
As a counterpoint to my musings, Jennifer Rubin of WAPO: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/02/22/putin-invasion-ukraine-has-begun/?utm_campaign=wp_follow_jennifer_rubin&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&wpisrc=nl-jenniferrubin