Napoleon's disastrous (for him) invasion of Russia looks like military genius compared to this abortion of a Russian operation in Ukraine.
Though Moscow's army is making some progress in the south, it is clear that the invasion force is not nearly large enough, the troops not nearly good enough, and the command not nearly smart enough -- it actually should be court-martialed for criminal incompetence -- to achieve the apparent objective of seizing the capital, overthrowing the government, and taking over the country. The idea of sustaining an occupation is even more absurd. Seriously, what were these people thinking?
Problem is, on the other side the Ukrainians don't have anywhere near the resources or firepower to inflict an actual military defeat on the Russian force. Courage will only take you so far. Meanwhile, the damage being done to the country and suffering visited on the people is immense.
Naturally, the Western governments whose blindness and arrogance did so much to contribute to this disaster in the years, months, and weeks preceding it are making things worse with their response. There may be psychological satisfaction in piling on sanctions, threatening war-crime prosecutions, and openly talking about regime change in Moscow...but the only effect all this has on the ground is to increase the odds of escalation.
West to Putin: Please be a good chap and acknowledge defeat...so we can take down your government and hang you.
Putin to West: No thanks, I think I'll just nuke you instead.
The panic about that nuclear site in southern Ukraine is just a drop in the bucket compared to what could yet happen. In fact, each day this goes on, the chances of a horrible ending increase. Seriously, if one month ago the leadership in Washington, Brussels, Kyiv, and Moscow could have somehow known what they know now and seen what they're seeing now, would they not, as presumably rational people, have sat down together and instead of trading empty talking points actually have made substantive concessions to head this nightmare off?
Maybe not. Not with the cast of characters in charge in those four capital cities. But assuming the answer to the question is yes, then the follow-up question is why didn't they know...why couldn't they see? I mean, for God's sake, It was obvious to anyone with a functioning brain and eyeballs. Which then leads to a 3rd question: Did some of them actually want it to happen?
Though Moscow's army is making some progress in the south, it is clear that the invasion force is not nearly large enough, the troops not nearly good enough, and the command not nearly smart enough -- it actually should be court-martialed for criminal incompetence -- to achieve the apparent objective of seizing the capital, overthrowing the government, and taking over the country. The idea of sustaining an occupation is even more absurd. Seriously, what were these people thinking?
Problem is, on the other side the Ukrainians don't have anywhere near the resources or firepower to inflict an actual military defeat on the Russian force. Courage will only take you so far. Meanwhile, the damage being done to the country and suffering visited on the people is immense.
Naturally, the Western governments whose blindness and arrogance did so much to contribute to this disaster in the years, months, and weeks preceding it are making things worse with their response. There may be psychological satisfaction in piling on sanctions, threatening war-crime prosecutions, and openly talking about regime change in Moscow...but the only effect all this has on the ground is to increase the odds of escalation.
West to Putin: Please be a good chap and acknowledge defeat...so we can take down your government and hang you.
Putin to West: No thanks, I think I'll just nuke you instead.
The panic about that nuclear site in southern Ukraine is just a drop in the bucket compared to what could yet happen. In fact, each day this goes on, the chances of a horrible ending increase. Seriously, if one month ago the leadership in Washington, Brussels, Kyiv, and Moscow could have somehow known what they know now and seen what they're seeing now, would they not, as presumably rational people, have sat down together and instead of trading empty talking points actually have made substantive concessions to head this nightmare off?
Maybe not. Not with the cast of characters in charge in those four capital cities. But assuming the answer to the question is yes, then the follow-up question is why didn't they know...why couldn't they see? I mean, for God's sake, It was obvious to anyone with a functioning brain and eyeballs. Which then leads to a 3rd question: Did some of them actually want it to happen?
