Putin doesn’t want the US thinking that he’s about to escalate and thus tempt it into escalating first in a way that could then spiral out of control into World War III like he fears.
Look, I'm a hawk and I have never once opined that Russia should either test or use nuclear weapons.
Russia does not need to go nuclear. Russia does need to get serious and win the damn war, already. This is getting ridiculous. Zelensky comes to America unchallenged and demands more money and weapons and freedom to strike at Russia, and Russia does nothing. Western politicians traipse in and out of Kiev through a turnstile for photo-ops, and Russia does nothing. The Kursk offensive signals a massive and inexcusable failure of Russian intel in a theater of war on its own damn border, and Russia does nothing. Zelensky has not held any kind of constitutionally valid office for the last 4 months, and Russia does nothing.
Russia does not merely look unserious. Russia IS unserious, and this is no way to fight an existential war.
If I was a Russian citizen, I would be furious right now. Putin may think he is taking the higher road, but he has absolutely no right to subject his citizens to this protracted humiliation and still expect their loyalty and patience. He is the defender of the Russian people and he needs to act like it. It's time for Kiev to be punished. It's time for the illegitimate Zelensky and his fake government to be destroyed. It's time to occupy Ukraine, arrest the Western collaborators, interdict the weapons shipments, and eliminate the threat. This all should have been started on Day 1, and we are now at Day 943.
I've been saying this for two years now. And I have been called every name you can think of. Which simply shows that my critics have nothing else to go on, so they call names.
The depressing part is that I would love to be wrong.
Yes, the worst part is having to deal with the endless slew of Internet Tallyrands who listen to The Duran and think they're qualified to tell you that you just don't understand what a war of attrition is.
Try explaining to these idiots that attrition is a tactic, not a goal. A means, not an end. At some point, the war still has to be won, and then all those big arrow moves that they scoffed at in the name of the holy war of attrition will have to take place anyway. These fools would still be singing the same tune if the Ukrainian troops were knocking on the doors of Moscow. "It's a war of attrition! We've really got 'em now!"
I find the amateur Russia experts to be comic, claiming that dithering and indecision are part of the mysterious "Russian way of war", in spite of abundant evidence to the contrary.
You are not right to see this conflict as a humiliation for Russia. It is an enormous victory, and every day it goes on is torture for those in NATO that started it. I think they really believed that sanctions would be the knock out punch and sweeping into Russia via Ukraine, after almost a decade of preparation, would be the easy part. Patience is virtue.
It would be hilarious in a black comedic sort of way if the Kremlin skipped blowing dniper bridges, de-energizing Ukraine, hitting railroad gauge changing stations etc and went straight from the current very passive strategy in regards to Western escalation to firing nukes. Of course seeing as how many, many Kremlin orbiters have their families living in the West there is a zero percent chance that Russia starts launching nukes first.
I imagine that Russia is also taking into account that initiating tests first could easily be perceived by the Global South as stepping up the level of pressure unnecessarily given that it's on track to defeat Ukraine anyway. The Global South's opinion has so far largely been favorable to Russia in this conflict, and Russia likely doesn't want to endanger that sentiment changing.
Both Russia and China are far, far closer to the West today than they were under Stalin or Mao. Yet we seemed to get along better back in the day. Everyone understood that there is no war, only 26 minutes and 40 seconds then global nuclear annihilation.
Now that Russia and China are far more liberal than they were back then, we seem to hate them more. We also seem to have forgotten about that pesky little global nuclear war thing.
It's madness. Where is the anti-nuclear left on this?
I have seen concerns about how fast the escalation could go given a significant provocation. The logic of conflicts can sometimes take on their own life, so its a legitimate concern. Also a good idea to not open the door to testing by others.
Here in the US, there are now rumors that Lloyd Austin told Blinken, perhaps even Biden himself, that they will not be permitted by DOD to send missiles into the heart of Russia. We are hopeful this is true and a sign of a remaining island of common sense within the US govt. Pushing out Austin this close to the election would not be possible, but if these people are willing to assassinate a presidential candidate...
While I haven't seen a proper geometric analysis, it appears to have been theater, with Corey Comperatore, etc. as collateral damage, to shoe in Trumpenstein. His ear was not injured, and he lied about his hand being covered with blood before the catsup could be deployed.
To match the theme of this post, the cartoon would be better depicted with a fat and mad US general on top of it.
Look, I'm a hawk and I have never once opined that Russia should either test or use nuclear weapons.
Russia does not need to go nuclear. Russia does need to get serious and win the damn war, already. This is getting ridiculous. Zelensky comes to America unchallenged and demands more money and weapons and freedom to strike at Russia, and Russia does nothing. Western politicians traipse in and out of Kiev through a turnstile for photo-ops, and Russia does nothing. The Kursk offensive signals a massive and inexcusable failure of Russian intel in a theater of war on its own damn border, and Russia does nothing. Zelensky has not held any kind of constitutionally valid office for the last 4 months, and Russia does nothing.
Russia does not merely look unserious. Russia IS unserious, and this is no way to fight an existential war.
If I was a Russian citizen, I would be furious right now. Putin may think he is taking the higher road, but he has absolutely no right to subject his citizens to this protracted humiliation and still expect their loyalty and patience. He is the defender of the Russian people and he needs to act like it. It's time for Kiev to be punished. It's time for the illegitimate Zelensky and his fake government to be destroyed. It's time to occupy Ukraine, arrest the Western collaborators, interdict the weapons shipments, and eliminate the threat. This all should have been started on Day 1, and we are now at Day 943.
It's time for Russia to get serious.
I've been saying this for two years now. And I have been called every name you can think of. Which simply shows that my critics have nothing else to go on, so they call names.
The depressing part is that I would love to be wrong.
Yes, the worst part is having to deal with the endless slew of Internet Tallyrands who listen to The Duran and think they're qualified to tell you that you just don't understand what a war of attrition is.
Try explaining to these idiots that attrition is a tactic, not a goal. A means, not an end. At some point, the war still has to be won, and then all those big arrow moves that they scoffed at in the name of the holy war of attrition will have to take place anyway. These fools would still be singing the same tune if the Ukrainian troops were knocking on the doors of Moscow. "It's a war of attrition! We've really got 'em now!"
I find the amateur Russia experts to be comic, claiming that dithering and indecision are part of the mysterious "Russian way of war", in spite of abundant evidence to the contrary.
You are not right to see this conflict as a humiliation for Russia. It is an enormous victory, and every day it goes on is torture for those in NATO that started it. I think they really believed that sanctions would be the knock out punch and sweeping into Russia via Ukraine, after almost a decade of preparation, would be the easy part. Patience is virtue.
Leverage is of no use if you signal that you'll practically never use it.
It would be hilarious in a black comedic sort of way if the Kremlin skipped blowing dniper bridges, de-energizing Ukraine, hitting railroad gauge changing stations etc and went straight from the current very passive strategy in regards to Western escalation to firing nukes. Of course seeing as how many, many Kremlin orbiters have their families living in the West there is a zero percent chance that Russia starts launching nukes first.
I imagine that Russia is also taking into account that initiating tests first could easily be perceived by the Global South as stepping up the level of pressure unnecessarily given that it's on track to defeat Ukraine anyway. The Global South's opinion has so far largely been favorable to Russia in this conflict, and Russia likely doesn't want to endanger that sentiment changing.
Both Russia and China are far, far closer to the West today than they were under Stalin or Mao. Yet we seemed to get along better back in the day. Everyone understood that there is no war, only 26 minutes and 40 seconds then global nuclear annihilation.
Now that Russia and China are far more liberal than they were back then, we seem to hate them more. We also seem to have forgotten about that pesky little global nuclear war thing.
It's madness. Where is the anti-nuclear left on this?
I have seen concerns about how fast the escalation could go given a significant provocation. The logic of conflicts can sometimes take on their own life, so its a legitimate concern. Also a good idea to not open the door to testing by others.
Here in the US, there are now rumors that Lloyd Austin told Blinken, perhaps even Biden himself, that they will not be permitted by DOD to send missiles into the heart of Russia. We are hopeful this is true and a sign of a remaining island of common sense within the US govt. Pushing out Austin this close to the election would not be possible, but if these people are willing to assassinate a presidential candidate...
While I haven't seen a proper geometric analysis, it appears to have been theater, with Corey Comperatore, etc. as collateral damage, to shoe in Trumpenstein. His ear was not injured, and he lied about his hand being covered with blood before the catsup could be deployed.