Every former general or diplomatic expert who’s got Zoom on a laptop and ten minutes to appear on CNN or MSNBC is all over the place today yapping about how Ukraine has “fought its way to a stalemate,” a conception which should be retired now, not later. It’s not a stalemate in Mariupol, where the mayor today refused a Russian demand to surrender the city, and shelling and bombing continue apace. Russian Col.
It is beyond comprehension that this war - and so many others - are being reduced to the common concepts of a board game. "Stalemate," "upper hand," even "strategy" dehumanizes the abomidal, visceral facts about war. This isn't a game of "Risk." How are we so innured to atrocities that we see war like a a board game? or a video game?
Totally agree, but the media never seem to invite Lucian's type of viewpoint (even with a West Point pedigree, including one of the great generals of WW2).
Before this is over, Ukraine will be a wasteland, and we will be well on our way to another cold war. No one should be surprised at this, as Putin is just another Stalin, and, I have absolutely no faith that the west will do what is needed to stop him.
The war is certainly not cold for the people of Ukraine, and their country is already laid to waste. I think that is one of the points of Lucian’s piece. Even if, by some miracle, the attacks were to cease this minute, the physical and psychological damage is already monumental.
Jennifer, I do agree with this as well. I was commenting more on the larger picture of the old east vs. west cold war, and secondarily, that we (USA) certainly seem to have our share of Russian fanboys and collaborators-Vichy and Quislings.
The price the Ukrainians are paying, and must pay rather than surrender, is horrific. Biden comfirmed the hypersonic hit. It did happen. Putin is getting destroyed and so many lives lost in Ukraine for no good reason. It's heart wrenching.
As always, Lucian, I appreciate your military background in reporting, or concluding about, these matters. And. -- you are severely more honest and blunt than any of the commenters I’ve heard or read - and I also appreciate this.Thank you.
The quality of electronic journalism is likewise at a low point not seen in decades. And that is part of a very large problem facing the concept of democracy itself. Without a responsible Fourth Estate, the house collapse of its own weight.
This war will end in about two months. With food distribution at an end, critical medicine unavailable to most people, 40 million people having no job no money and the Russian bombing campaign going on even when all they are doing is making the rubble bounce. Just as in Grozny with everything ruined and the population beginning to starve NATO will start pressuring President Zelensky to cut a deal. Facing famine and ten million more refugees the west will finally step in and make a deal with Russia and tragically betray Ukraine. By August the Russians will control about 50% of the country, letting the rest become a NATO welfare case. In June 2023 the Russian sector will resemble East Germany in 1950 and the west resembling Baghdad in 2007, gangs fighting over western aid and Republicans in the US voting down all relief efforts and much of Europe sick and tired of the whole damn thing. Eventually Russia will seize the rest of Ukraine and the world will do nothing. All of this is horrid and shameful. Russian brutality and NATO making promises that will not be kept. Who, will spend a hundred billion dollars rebuilding Ukraine? Look at Iraq and Afghanistan, malnutrition, late night street battles, political corruption. All of this is painful to say but history is replete with examples of how generous promises end up being bullshit. In 2030 Ukraine will be a Russian district and Zelensky will operate a popular restaurant on Miami beach.
That is no doubt the most depressingly believable post I’ve read because you know I’m your bones/our bones that Trump would make that deal and betray Ukraine. He will see that opening if he doesn’t already and play that card, that polemical theme with Bannon writing the script and Tucker Carlson using the talking points over and over again. Just wait, am I right.
Let’s hope your dystopia doesn’t occur. My fear is that this becomes epicenter of a larger war escalating to tactical nukes. We in the west have to increase our support of Ukraine and hope Russians begin to mutiny.
Four things: 1) Yesterday on MSNBC, Alex whatshername, who was standing in for Nicole Wallace shared Russian disinformation as if it were news (I tweeted a correction which was RT by a number of people but she never corrected her pronouncement) that 200,000 Putin supporters had attended his rally. That was what the Kremlin announced but it has been debunked; at the most there MAY have been 80,000 and almost all of them were forced to attend. They were definitely NOT "supporters." 2) General Honore has been tweeting his frustration about MSM talking heads and their guests revealing locations and tactical information that is useful to the enemy. Alex did that too - asking questions on live TV that should never be asked in the midst of a war. 3) This is no "cold war." That is obvious from the daily news and the pics and videos of slaughter. This is a HOT war. Period. And 4) They like "stalemate" because, according to a former diplomat, it there's a "stalemate" then negotiations can begin. What negotiations? Zelensky is going to fight to the bitter end and Putrid Putin has himself backed so far into his gilded hole, he can never come out again. But "stalemate" suits the talking heads because, quite frankly, they are already tired of talking about Ukraine and are in search of "fresh meat" for their audiences. Sorry for the rant. I stayed up most of the night with my two cats in our safe room because of tornadoes roaming around our area. I'm a bit grouchy today.
Thank you for stating the obvious. The "West" - just like Putin - assumed Ukraine will fold. They do not say this in public, but at about day 10, they were no less shocked - and as unprepared as Moscow - to realize that Ukraine was not folding. Not only not folding, instead was putting up a fierce resistance to the largest army in the world. Resistance is not a stalemate. Holding back a complete massacre is not a stalemate. Beating the odds placed on you - for now - is not a stalemate. It is, however, a miracle amidst a cruel and brutal war. Moscow's depravity is incomprehensible. For me, watching the clip of the woman being carried out of the maternity hospital, only to learn later that both she and the baby died, was the moment I gave up all hope that Putin has limits. Following in the footsteps of his territorial predecessors - Genghis Khan, Ivan the Terrible, Stalin - there will never be a stalemate. Despite fierce resistance, sooner or later my homeland will be destroyed - fully decimated and remaining population subjugated - up to the 1939 Soviet border, leaving a rump republic as a buffer between Russia and NATO. That was always his goal, but we were not listening, or actually we were and thought it was OK as long as it was done without too much bloodshed. Bummer about the bloodshed. Putin will not stop unless the West decides that Putin must be destroyed - not just stopped - but destroyed before Ukraine is a wasteland and Europe completely destablized.
in a stalemate, opponents will sit back,, each quietly assessing their predicament in not being able to do anything more to win, then, mutually agree to both quit.
Ukraine is in a fight for its life. against a diabolically driven despot who must continue his war to its end for he cannot go back to his country and be seen as not successful, let alone as being defeated.
putin has found himself in a dangerous position. and worse, greatly more dangerous for everyone else.
that is why there is talk of finding "an exit ramp" for him. as much as i hate the thought of coddling that murderous fiend, i can see why diplomats are working hard on a solution there.
the grim alternative is that putin, seeing that he can only march forward, will set to it and apply all the might in his command, daring his opponents to endure his unrelenting criminal assaults and ever dangerous escalating actions.
he will pummel Ukrainian cities like he did at Grozny and Aleppo.
Thank you, Lucian, for not shrinking from the hideous reality that is this war. The armchair pundits who sit around handicapping the results, with their “stay tuned’ mentality, make me despair. The perpetration of atrocities by Russia in Ukraine is simply obscene.
You are without argument correct, this is a war, and an inhumane one at that — kidnapping children? bombing schools, theatres and even hospitals? In what world is this acceptable? Putin belongs in the Hague now, along with the generals who are cooperating with this massacre of Ukrainians. Here, by the way, is a piece I published the other day explaining why hospital bombings are war crimes: https://themarkaz.org/mariupol-ukraine-and-the-crime-of-hospital-bombing/
It is beyond comprehension that this war - and so many others - are being reduced to the common concepts of a board game. "Stalemate," "upper hand," even "strategy" dehumanizes the abomidal, visceral facts about war. This isn't a game of "Risk." How are we so innured to atrocities that we see war like a a board game? or a video game?
Well, "we" don't. "They" somewhere out there do.
Yes, true. Thank you. And we are not alone.
This is not a stalemate.
It is an unending war of attrition and mass murder.
It's also genocide.
No matter what the terms the MSM uses, they can never even adequately describe the never-ending horror and death that is being rained on Ukraine.
I don't think anyone can, or should.
War crimes and atrocities should be in a class by themselves to shame all of us for allowing them to happen in the first place.
And that Putin has more than earned his place in hell.
You should be on MSNBC or CNN, but I don't know if they can handle handle your truth-telling.
They want the conventional wisdom, gently massaged. I don't do that.
Thank God.
The last thing MSNBC wants is truth. The very last thing.
Totally agree, but the media never seem to invite Lucian's type of viewpoint (even with a West Point pedigree, including one of the great generals of WW2).
Before this is over, Ukraine will be a wasteland, and we will be well on our way to another cold war. No one should be surprised at this, as Putin is just another Stalin, and, I have absolutely no faith that the west will do what is needed to stop him.
The war is certainly not cold for the people of Ukraine, and their country is already laid to waste. I think that is one of the points of Lucian’s piece. Even if, by some miracle, the attacks were to cease this minute, the physical and psychological damage is already monumental.
Jennifer, I do agree with this as well. I was commenting more on the larger picture of the old east vs. west cold war, and secondarily, that we (USA) certainly seem to have our share of Russian fanboys and collaborators-Vichy and Quislings.
my only disagreement is when you talk about being "on our way to another cold war." we're in it.
Good Point. I stand corrected.
The price the Ukrainians are paying, and must pay rather than surrender, is horrific. Biden comfirmed the hypersonic hit. It did happen. Putin is getting destroyed and so many lives lost in Ukraine for no good reason. It's heart wrenching.
As always, Lucian, I appreciate your military background in reporting, or concluding about, these matters. And. -- you are severely more honest and blunt than any of the commenters I’ve heard or read - and I also appreciate this.Thank you.
The quality of electronic journalism is likewise at a low point not seen in decades. And that is part of a very large problem facing the concept of democracy itself. Without a responsible Fourth Estate, the house collapse of its own weight.
This war will end in about two months. With food distribution at an end, critical medicine unavailable to most people, 40 million people having no job no money and the Russian bombing campaign going on even when all they are doing is making the rubble bounce. Just as in Grozny with everything ruined and the population beginning to starve NATO will start pressuring President Zelensky to cut a deal. Facing famine and ten million more refugees the west will finally step in and make a deal with Russia and tragically betray Ukraine. By August the Russians will control about 50% of the country, letting the rest become a NATO welfare case. In June 2023 the Russian sector will resemble East Germany in 1950 and the west resembling Baghdad in 2007, gangs fighting over western aid and Republicans in the US voting down all relief efforts and much of Europe sick and tired of the whole damn thing. Eventually Russia will seize the rest of Ukraine and the world will do nothing. All of this is horrid and shameful. Russian brutality and NATO making promises that will not be kept. Who, will spend a hundred billion dollars rebuilding Ukraine? Look at Iraq and Afghanistan, malnutrition, late night street battles, political corruption. All of this is painful to say but history is replete with examples of how generous promises end up being bullshit. In 2030 Ukraine will be a Russian district and Zelensky will operate a popular restaurant on Miami beach.
That is no doubt the most depressingly believable post I’ve read because you know I’m your bones/our bones that Trump would make that deal and betray Ukraine. He will see that opening if he doesn’t already and play that card, that polemical theme with Bannon writing the script and Tucker Carlson using the talking points over and over again. Just wait, am I right.
Not to put too fine a point on it, but what we have here is an American version of the WW2 Vichy.
Let’s hope your dystopia doesn’t occur. My fear is that this becomes epicenter of a larger war escalating to tactical nukes. We in the west have to increase our support of Ukraine and hope Russians begin to mutiny.
Perhaps the generals who haven’t yet been killed will stage a coup and “take care” of Putin.
Four things: 1) Yesterday on MSNBC, Alex whatshername, who was standing in for Nicole Wallace shared Russian disinformation as if it were news (I tweeted a correction which was RT by a number of people but she never corrected her pronouncement) that 200,000 Putin supporters had attended his rally. That was what the Kremlin announced but it has been debunked; at the most there MAY have been 80,000 and almost all of them were forced to attend. They were definitely NOT "supporters." 2) General Honore has been tweeting his frustration about MSM talking heads and their guests revealing locations and tactical information that is useful to the enemy. Alex did that too - asking questions on live TV that should never be asked in the midst of a war. 3) This is no "cold war." That is obvious from the daily news and the pics and videos of slaughter. This is a HOT war. Period. And 4) They like "stalemate" because, according to a former diplomat, it there's a "stalemate" then negotiations can begin. What negotiations? Zelensky is going to fight to the bitter end and Putrid Putin has himself backed so far into his gilded hole, he can never come out again. But "stalemate" suits the talking heads because, quite frankly, they are already tired of talking about Ukraine and are in search of "fresh meat" for their audiences. Sorry for the rant. I stayed up most of the night with my two cats in our safe room because of tornadoes roaming around our area. I'm a bit grouchy today.
Thank you for stating the obvious. The "West" - just like Putin - assumed Ukraine will fold. They do not say this in public, but at about day 10, they were no less shocked - and as unprepared as Moscow - to realize that Ukraine was not folding. Not only not folding, instead was putting up a fierce resistance to the largest army in the world. Resistance is not a stalemate. Holding back a complete massacre is not a stalemate. Beating the odds placed on you - for now - is not a stalemate. It is, however, a miracle amidst a cruel and brutal war. Moscow's depravity is incomprehensible. For me, watching the clip of the woman being carried out of the maternity hospital, only to learn later that both she and the baby died, was the moment I gave up all hope that Putin has limits. Following in the footsteps of his territorial predecessors - Genghis Khan, Ivan the Terrible, Stalin - there will never be a stalemate. Despite fierce resistance, sooner or later my homeland will be destroyed - fully decimated and remaining population subjugated - up to the 1939 Soviet border, leaving a rump republic as a buffer between Russia and NATO. That was always his goal, but we were not listening, or actually we were and thought it was OK as long as it was done without too much bloodshed. Bummer about the bloodshed. Putin will not stop unless the West decides that Putin must be destroyed - not just stopped - but destroyed before Ukraine is a wasteland and Europe completely destablized.
a stalemate this definitely is not.
in a stalemate, opponents will sit back,, each quietly assessing their predicament in not being able to do anything more to win, then, mutually agree to both quit.
Ukraine is in a fight for its life. against a diabolically driven despot who must continue his war to its end for he cannot go back to his country and be seen as not successful, let alone as being defeated.
putin has found himself in a dangerous position. and worse, greatly more dangerous for everyone else.
that is why there is talk of finding "an exit ramp" for him. as much as i hate the thought of coddling that murderous fiend, i can see why diplomats are working hard on a solution there.
the grim alternative is that putin, seeing that he can only march forward, will set to it and apply all the might in his command, daring his opponents to endure his unrelenting criminal assaults and ever dangerous escalating actions.
he will pummel Ukrainian cities like he did at Grozny and Aleppo.
he may be running out of conventional weapons.
he may have to resort to CBN weapons.
You should be on MSNBC or CNN, but I don't know if they can handle handle your truth-telling.
Thank you, Lucian, for not shrinking from the hideous reality that is this war. The armchair pundits who sit around handicapping the results, with their “stay tuned’ mentality, make me despair. The perpetration of atrocities by Russia in Ukraine is simply obscene.
You are without argument correct, this is a war, and an inhumane one at that — kidnapping children? bombing schools, theatres and even hospitals? In what world is this acceptable? Putin belongs in the Hague now, along with the generals who are cooperating with this massacre of Ukrainians. Here, by the way, is a piece I published the other day explaining why hospital bombings are war crimes: https://themarkaz.org/mariupol-ukraine-and-the-crime-of-hospital-bombing/
That is blessedly obvious. Just happily renewed.