I won’t attempt an actual Sitrep. However, for those following the progress of Russia’s “Special Military Operation” in Ukraine, you’ll be aware that the last few days have seen conflicting statements from Zelensky (“we need to negotiate—no, wait, we just need more heavy weapons, no, wait …!”) that suggest disarray at the top levels of government. There are also frequent reports of EU/NATO nations increasingly demanding a negotiated end—most notably from Germany and Italy. In addition, there are widespread reports of accelerating breakthroughs and advances by Russian forces and reports of increasing surrenders of Ukrainian troops—largely poorly trained, lightly armed, reservists rushed to the front lines as cannon fodder. Many of these unfortunates had been told they’d be in the third echelon, but instead were sent to the front lines and subjected to massive Russian bombardment.
Hahahahahaha!!!! Lordy, ray, that Compost article you linked is comedy gold!! Everyone should read it for a great ROTFLMAO fest. Had no idea Ignatius was capable of self satire to that degree. What a fanboy fiction piece. Imagine the clever Sock Puppet and his Brain Trust(tm) forseeing the invasion of Ukraine and then putting together a coalition of nations (where have i heard that before? ) to trounce the Rooskies--- who, btw, were so crushed at the Kiev airport they had no idea what to do so they settled for obliterating the Ukronazi army and much of the Western economies for good measure).
What's equally laughable is that Ignatius is such a homer he can't even see how ridiculous it is that his Team Sock Puppet had all this time to prepare and this $>!×storm is the best they could do.
The historical heart of Ukrainian nationalism is the Western, Greek Catholic, part. Historically it has been placed between Poland and Russia (including large Russian friendly parts of Ukraine). Problem: that part of Ukraine is the poorest part and is not strong enough to be independent of Poland/Russia. Up until the end of the 18th century it was dominated by Poland, afterwards by Russia. Most recently, with US aid, it was able to impose its will on the rest of Ukraine, but Ukraine as a geographical region remains culturally divided. The Western Ukraine ascendancy over all Ukraine will come to an end--soon.
Thanks, Mark. This is my view as well. Linguistically, culturally, geographically and historically speaking, to characterize post-soviet “Ukraine” as “Ukrainian” is a stretch. Putin is quite right to say today’s Ukraine was cobbled together by the Bolshevik regime — with Lenin, Stalin and Khrushchev each making contributions. I liken it to the artificial “nation-states” created in the wake of the 20th-century collapse of western imperialism. Many of today’s political/military hot spots stem from this.
Anyways, I was struck by the absurdity of expecting a nominal “Ukrainian” soldier (as in the video) to put up much of a fight against an “enemy” who is largely indistinguishable from himself.
Ukraine is still the thing? Huh I went into the orher newer thing a couple days ago.
David Ignatius piece, I wonder what his approved narrative is?
Perhaps it’s the Biden administration was on top of this, and warned Ukraine of coming war, that was ignored it till it was too late?
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/05/26/biden-white-house-secret-planning-helped-ukraine-counter-russia/
@ray
Hahahahahaha!!!! Lordy, ray, that Compost article you linked is comedy gold!! Everyone should read it for a great ROTFLMAO fest. Had no idea Ignatius was capable of self satire to that degree. What a fanboy fiction piece. Imagine the clever Sock Puppet and his Brain Trust(tm) forseeing the invasion of Ukraine and then putting together a coalition of nations (where have i heard that before? ) to trounce the Rooskies--- who, btw, were so crushed at the Kiev airport they had no idea what to do so they settled for obliterating the Ukronazi army and much of the Western economies for good measure).
What's equally laughable is that Ignatius is such a homer he can't even see how ridiculous it is that his Team Sock Puppet had all this time to prepare and this $>!×storm is the best they could do.
How ironic. The Ukrainian soldier in the video is speaking perfect, unaccented Russian.
Right. I was just pointing out how stoopid contemporary Ukrainian nationalist ideology is.
My view:
The historical heart of Ukrainian nationalism is the Western, Greek Catholic, part. Historically it has been placed between Poland and Russia (including large Russian friendly parts of Ukraine). Problem: that part of Ukraine is the poorest part and is not strong enough to be independent of Poland/Russia. Up until the end of the 18th century it was dominated by Poland, afterwards by Russia. Most recently, with US aid, it was able to impose its will on the rest of Ukraine, but Ukraine as a geographical region remains culturally divided. The Western Ukraine ascendancy over all Ukraine will come to an end--soon.
Thanks, Mark. This is my view as well. Linguistically, culturally, geographically and historically speaking, to characterize post-soviet “Ukraine” as “Ukrainian” is a stretch. Putin is quite right to say today’s Ukraine was cobbled together by the Bolshevik regime — with Lenin, Stalin and Khrushchev each making contributions. I liken it to the artificial “nation-states” created in the wake of the 20th-century collapse of western imperialism. Many of today’s political/military hot spots stem from this.
Anyways, I was struck by the absurdity of expecting a nominal “Ukrainian” soldier (as in the video) to put up much of a fight against an “enemy” who is largely indistinguishable from himself.