He has threatened all kinds of retaliation and squawked and squirmed about a bunch of things the US has said and done. He doesn’t have the means to put up a real fight short of nukes, and intelligence analysts probably know how to tell when he’s being serious. I wouldn’t worry about him, at least not with the war in its current state.
That pressure is likely being applied already through the sanctions that are taking effect. Already it’s more and more difficult for them to replace their stuff while Ukraine has gotten infusions from the West and from abandoned Russian equipment.
They’re probably trying to stockpile for a major operation. Whether it’s offensive or defensive is difficult to say, but I think it’s clear that they know something that we, the public, don’t.
Hopefully. There seem to be rumors of preparations for a major Ukrainian counterattack, but who really knows? Honestly, ongoing and upcoming military operations are one of the few things I'm okay with governments being secretive about.
A seized $300M Superyacht belonging to Russian oligarch Suleiman Kerimov pulled into Honolulu Harbor.
Maybe they can rent it out for dinner cruises.
Might the Ukrainians work on building their own in-house training capability on it? Obviously they’re going to need more rounds, they’re going to need to pull some of their guys from the front to train and serve as instructors, and they’re going to need to keep some equipment on the training ground instead of at the front, but that sounds a lot better in the long-term than relying on Western expertise as well as materiel.
I think we all saw this coming, really.
But China and India are also buying at "heavy discounts." I don't know if that's less than pre-war prices, or just less than current prices.
Totally agree, I am Italian but my entire important life has been in Scotland so I consider more Scottish than Italian and despite this I feel ashamed by the level of selfishness of Italians who looks only to the cost of living. Here in Scotland we see again cost of living increasing and dramatically. But every pensioner that I had chance to speak to refer to Putin as an Evil that must be stopped at all costs. I am sure that if we do not stop this now, more will come maybe not in the immediate but in the coming years. I totally share the view of the UK Army Secretary General, who said that this is the generation that have to prepare to fight and defeat Russia on the ground and protect Europe once again. This will happen, as WWII, because lack of vision of our politicians (or part of them) who are incapable to motivate common people to fight for something higher than your personal grocery list.
Then again, political leaders throughout the West can’t be bothered with something as simple as grocery lists. There’s a failing in the hierarchy of needs that is no doubt affecting people’s thinking. The problems at home are severe enough (or are perceived to be severe enough) that geopolitical security issues in distant lands are easily pushed aside.
I am not saying politician should not be bothered with domestic issues, they are otherwise we would be much more pro active. The problem is that people are not guided in this period of uncertainty, we lack of inspiring figures who would led us as Zelensky is doing with his own people, or other leaders of the past. People see the war in Ukraine, just a problem that should be put away asap. Instead they should know more about what is occurring in Russia, how Putin has created even a Youth Army and promoting the propaganda that Russia is surrounded by Nazis enemy and Europe is the center. I feel so bad, to not being able to do more for that country, I feel the weight of my privilege to be back home and know that my wife and kids are safe. How this is not widespread, why we do not recognise that the freedom we give as granted is not free?
It is very probable that Russia has been conducting campaigns to destabilize democracies by backing candidates that have authoritarian and regressive social views. The damage done to the domestic situation in many countries is severe, sometimes provoking constitutional crises, democratic backsliding on both regional and national scales, and less-than-peaceful transfers of power.
