Roundup
(1) Biden will now buy oil from Venezuela and Iran instead of from Russia. Nice going, Joe. Very cagey of you.
(2) Please read this article. It’s very frightening, and relates some facts of which I was previously unaware, such as the following:
What Russia does possess is a nuclear arsenal that is capable of destroying the land-based nuclear forces of the United States, American cities and their populations, and American military bases abroad that do play a strategic role in the defense of the United States. They also possess advanced ballistic missile defense systems to protect Moscow and strategic positions throughout Russia.
The Russian S-400 and S-500 air and missile defense systems can deploy nuclear-tipped interceptors to ensure that the Russian homeland is defended from American ballistic missiles. What about America?…
For all of our tough talk about America’s military might, the United States does not possess a missile defense capable of stopping Russian or Chinese ballistic missiles. We are also not able to stop a ship-launched ballistic missile should the Iranians or any other nation choose to serve as a surrogate for such an attack.
The rest of the article discusses why this is so. I checked some of it out with other sources and it appears to be true.
Perhaps most of you already knew this. I most certainly did not.
Seems to me as though Russia has much less to lose than we do from a nuclear attack – that is, if its defensive system works as advertised.
(3) Ted Cruz on the Biden administration’s destructive energy policy.
(4) The DOJ can work mighty fast when it wants to.
(5) More on Biden’s Iran deal, if you’ve got the stomach for it.
Correction, Biden will now buy oil from Venezuela and Iran rather than allow for the deficit to be filled by production from US federal lands. Because buying oil from Russia or any other country is more important than US energy independence.
(6) Poland told Blinken “no” to supporting a Ukraine no-fly-zone, which would have only escalated tensions with Russia. The adults are now everywhere but in the White House.
One thing, “nuclear-tipped interceptors.” I don’t think so. That would be crazier than Dr. Strangelove. You don’t set off air-blast nuclear explosions over your own territory to prevent more powerful nuclear explosions from hitting your position. That would likely be suicidal. So I’m guessing that info. is just wrong. From what I can tell, the system relies on getting close and disabling an incoming missile with an area explosion. Our system mentioned below relies on physically hitting the incoming missile. If the Russians have such a real-life working system, it may or may not prove effective against our incoming delivery vehicles.
We have tested ICBM interceptors, but have only done a limited deployment of them (in Alaska IIRC). Likewise these are tested but only in a few tests. It’s unclear how well they will work against real incoming platforms.
“Seems to me as though Russia has much less to lose than we do from a nuclear attack – that is, if its defensive system works as advertised.”
And that’s a big IF. It would be very unwise for Putin, or any other leader, to assume that a defense system that has been verified only by limited physical tests and by simulation will actually work as advertised in a real situation when faced with hundreds or thousands of enemy missiles.
Maybe it would successfully destroy 50% of the incoming missiles…maybe even 75%. That’s still a lot of cities destroyed.
Omaha Public Power District would rather spend and borrow $28b on unreliable wind and solar (that only benefits China) rather than buy coal from Wyoming which is delivered by UPRR.
I calculate that electric rates will at least double, if not triple.
We are being crucified on a cross of wind turbine blades!
you don’t set off air-blast nuclear explosions over your own territory to prevent more powerful nuclear explosions from hitting your position. That would likely be suicidal.
We had such interceptors on alert status until 1988. And frankly, if it actually meant preventing more powerful nuclear explosions from hitting their targets, then yeah, I rather set off a smaller nuclear explosion, especially if you could disable a bomber with multiple nuclear weapons or ballistic missile with MIRVs before they became many more powerful nuclear explosions.
However, I do believe are ability to stop an attack is better than described by The Federalist, which is why we no longer need to have our nuclear interceptors.
Cornhead: “We are being crucified on a cross of wind turbine blades!”
Or as columnist James Delingpole dubbed them, “bat chomping, bird slicing eco crucifixes.”
I seriously think Biden has been bribed by Iran along with Obama, Val Jarrett and Susan Rice. They are traitors.
We can’t allow Iran to have nukes. They’d destroy Israel and nuke us too.
I hope the new PM in Israel has spine. Now would be the time to destroy Iran’s nuke plants. Might as well get it over with.
Cornhead:
It is very difficult to understand except by positing bribery, or treason, or some sort of delusion, or some combination of all of those.
What I find impossible to understand is how anyone could have voted for Biden, considering what Obama had done and that Biden would be extending and building on it.
Did they think he wouldn’t do that? Did they not care? Did they approve? Did their hatred of Trump blind them to all the consequences?
What C-F.
I just got blocked by some NeverTrump doofus on Twitter. He had taken to whining about Joe Biden and Russia invading Ukraine and I made a point of replying that he’s the one who wanted Trump gone and all the things he was complaining about were the result. He got what he wanted and he should accept responsibility for that.
And I want to emphasize that it’s pretty normal for this guy to Tweet 20+ times a day, while retweeting others almost as much, and I replied to him maybe a dozen times over several weeks…and he blocked me. Out of several hundred Tweets he got a relative handful of negative replies from me…and he couldn’t tolerate that level of pushback.
I bring that up to pair it with Stephen Colbert, on a taped show where they could have edited it out, telling a “joke” where he says he’s fine paying $15 a gallon for gas because he owns a Tesla. The cheapest Tesla costs about $45,000. That’s more than most Americans make in an entire year.
These people have almost literally walled themselves off from anyone different from them. They practically don’t even acknowledge such people exist. That’s why they’re so disconnected from reality, so constantly surprised by events, and constantly either blatantly lying or revealing more of their truth than they really intend.
There’s no way this continues without a disaster. Hopefully it will just be an electoral catastrophe that befalls them in November.
Mike
I am former aircrew from B-52s from the bad old days SAC, (Strategic Air Command) when we had the full on horror nuclear annihilation. I have kept up on the weapon systems since I left the USAF in 1991. While the article you linked is accurate to a point, don’t assume it is 100%. We could spend many, many hours detailing the how and whys of this scenario. Russia has as much to lose as anyone in a nuclear confrontation. Don’t read too much into the talk about S 300 and S 400 missiles. Lest we forget Russian a-135 nuclear tipped ABMs around Moscow. All of these systems together could not stop the US missile strike. The Russians know this even if articles like this make it sound like they might survive, or think they might survive, a nuclear war. There simply aren’t enough interceptors to stop a determined US attack of any size. Even today with our decreased arsenals, we still have more than enough sub launched and land launched missiles to overwhelm any defense. More importantly, I place high confidence in our weapon systems reliability, much more so than Russian technology.
Nuclear weapons are to be greatly feared, and I believe still are today by any military professional. Especially from the United States, and Russia. What Putin is thinking I cannot say. He is certainly making historically bold and inflammatory statements regarding nuclear posture and threats. Of everything we have seen discussed in the last two weeks, this is the most concerning. The weapon systems have not changed except for minor details and grandstanding. Only the nuclear posture and threats are of concerned. And I believe this should simply shows how scared Putin is of losing his status and his incursion into the Ukraine.
And yes, Russia still really does have nuclear armed anti-ballistic missiles in their arsenal. They are designed to intercept incoming RVs at a high enough altitude that the nuclear explosions would not affect the ground except through electromagnetic pulse. As someone else wrote in the comments, the US had a similar system for a brief time in the 1970s, but decommissioned it mostly due to cost versus practicality.
I believe Putin will negotiate some kind of peace from his war to save face and this will fade into obscurity. Nothing is certain, in war, of course. It could spiral out of control
Of greater concern to me is the complete ineptitude of our leaders to deal with the economic and political fallout of this crisis. Literally, could not have done a worse series of actions.
MBunge:
I think they know such people exist. But they are contemptuous of them and/or actively detest them.
Neo: I mentioned to a friend an experience I had interacting with a leftist on line who was espousing the greatness of Biden.
I gave him a list of failures and then I went ad hominem and called him a moron.
That was reserved, I wanted to call him far worse as he is a facilitator of the destruction of America. He was calm and rebuked be for not maintaining a reasonable conversation.
I realized this morning that he was deluded.
I went so far as to tell my friend that I thought the guy was spiritually blinded.
My friend replied: Ed, they reject religion, but humans are innately religious, therefor they take on leftism, wokism, atheism etc as their religion unconsciously. Their instincts require that they defend it to the death. they cannot be reasoned with.
They are religious zealots and see themselves as the holder of a surpassing truth.
I saw a clip of Joe Biden on the news this evening, saying that accusations that his administration has restricted domestic oil production are NOT TRUE. So there. And I suppose there are people who will believe it because he says so.
I am highly skeptical of the Russian capability vs the U.S. For decades we heard stories of Russia’s vaunted capabilities. Those frightening stories were useful for selling sophisticated weapons systems. On the other hand, Russia has never proven itself to be an effective, independent fighting force on a large scale Despite Hitler’s miscalculations, and the salutary effects of the Russian winter on defense, Russia needed massive aid from the U.S. and a second front to survive in WWII. Post-war, they gobbled up smaller, war ravaged countries while the West thought about peace. Then Afghanistan. Now, Ukraine. They have proven their brutality, they have not proven their vaunted power. Why would anyone think that their nuclear capability is so superior to their conventional war fighting force?
I was told long ago by an ex-Naval Aviator-Astronaut, who worked with the first joint US-Russian space venture, that they were not even in the same league. He was shocked. The partnership consisted of U.S. funding and U.S. technology, and the Russian on a free ride. I know, their aging rockets are now filling the gap that NASA intentionally created to service the ISS. But serious people, like Musk et al, run rings around them
Their civil aviation system has long been documented to be a disaster.
But,we are to believe that their air defense system and their nuclear system is somehow far superior to any other technological or organizational sophistication that they have demonstrated? And qualitatively superior to ours?
Russia is a a large country; and does have a large military force; and a nuclear capability of unknown effectiveness. They are dangerous. We do not want a war with them. On the other hand we should not cower before their bluster and bullying.
The cheapest Tesla costs about $45,000. That’s more than most Americans make in an entire year.
In cash compensation, about half the working population exceeds that and half do not. About 18% of all employee compensation is in the form of benefits.
Dominoes continue to fall.
CoinBase kills thousands of crypto Russian accounts.
Must under pressure to remote kill switch Teslas in RU and deny StarLink access
https://www.zerohedge.com/crypto/coinbase-cuts-25k-russian-wallets-over-allegations-theyre-engaged-illicit-activity
https://youtu.be/9AHzzZCO-BI
Or as columnist James Delingpole dubbed them, “bat chomping, bird slicing eco crucifixes.”
It’s inane to complain about the use of solar and wind technology, just as it is to complain about nuclear technology (provided you have satisfactory waste depots) or fossil fuels (provided you’ve taken externalities into consideration). The problem is the subsidies. Remove the subsidies – whether they’re delivered by direct grants, cheap credit, tax preferences, price controls, or the imposition of regulatory compliance costs on alternatives.
If you’re concerned about externalities from emissions (due to health-and-safety issues or aesthetic damage), you have a number of tools you can use: Pigou levies (provided the proceeds are then rebated to the public on a per-household basis and not used as a revenue source), tradable permits, and sparing use of command-and-control regulation.
Eventually producers and consumers will work out a mix with which people can live. It’s always this way with the Democratic Party: fanatacism in promoting the life-style choices of someone like Pete & Chasten.
Oldflyer:
I certainly hope you are correct.
I have my doubts, too; that’s why I put that “if it works as advertised” part in there. But I have read some very frightening things. For example, please see this and also this one. The latter makes it clear that Russia and to a lesser extent China have extensive and robust defensive systems and ours only is geared towards defense from an attack by a rogue state that has a small capability.
What do you think of that? It’s like we’ve not even been trying. I read quite a few other articles and they all say pretty much the same thing.
AManOfTheWest:
I appreciate your commenting about it. That field is certainly WAY outside my own field of expertise.
I grew up in the 50s and 60s and used to have nuclear war nightmares as I child. I remember those days well.
So much for the End of History….
What happens when you don’t think past Step 1:
The Wall Street Journal
@WSJ
·
1h
Leaders of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates declined requests to speak to President Biden during the Ukraine crisis, officials say. They both took calls from Putin.
Mike
Looking forward to Garland joining Fauci as a non-entity.
Leaders of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates declined requests to speak to President Biden during the Ukraine crisis, officials say. They both took calls from Putin.
Leaders of Saudi Arabia and the UAE have hired servants to supervise demented relatives. They have no interest in being distracted from their regular work in order to talk to someone else’s demented relative.
And more cash accelerates the Iranians nuclear operations.
Still think Fauci is happy to fade away slowly and finish his days a wealth free man, but he can’t hide from God.
Any nation holding funds in the international banking system, or has US Treasuries or stores gold in NY or London now knows they can be cut off at a moment’s notice.
Russia is the most motivated to find other pathways. China, India, the Arab OPEC nations are motivated as well. That must be at least part of the reason the Saudis don’t talk to Biden.
Though they’re doubtless grateful he’s boosting the price of oil ….
The spousal unit worked on this:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lightweight_Exo-Atmospheric_Projectile
“The latter makes it clear that Russia and to a lesser extent China have extensive and robust defensive systems and ours only is geared towards defense from an attack by a rogue state that has a small capability.
What do you think of that? It’s like we’ve not even been trying. I read quite a few other articles and they all say pretty much the same thing.”
That is correct. Our ballistic missile defense system is designed to only be effective against a very small attack by a rogue state such as North Korea. And it took a hell of a political fight against the Democrats to get even that limited system built. The Democrats opposed it every step of the way. They absolutely positively did not want anything built that could threaten inbound Russian or Chinese nuclear warheads.
One of the things George W. Bush doesn’t get enough credit for is getting this system — long a dream of conservatives and defense advocates alike — actually built.
I am highly skeptical of the Russian capability vs the U.S.
Oldflyer:
Likewise.
Furthermore, I question whether any nuclear power has a solid idea how their attacks and defenses will go, when it’s Go-Time and large numbers of nuclear weapons are exploding all over the place.
No question it will be a bad day for everyone and it’s not an experiment I wish to test. However, how much damage is inflicted and how much is successfully defended is impossible to know.
That said, it’s been insane of Dem leadership to let Russia and China even look they are ahead of us.
“Seems to me as though Russia has much less to lose than we do from a nuclear attack – that is, if its defensive system works as advertised.“
our defense system implementation was fought against by many of the same people who did Putin’s Green Energy/EviroMentalist farce work.
Sometimes the system doesn’t work as designed and a litle ingenuity is called for: https://www.virtualmirage.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/dr-strangelove-still-580-300×203.webp
I took a look at 3) and Ted Cruz’s bill which appears to be fine as far as it goes. But I’ve heard rumblings about the difficulty that drillers and producers are having in getting investment funding.
Some of the reason for this was mentioned by a commenter previously. (“West Texas Intermediate” or similar perhaps?) In previous years too much dumb investment money was handed to fracking operators who were too ambitious and some went broke. Once bitten, twice shy.
However, the other financial factor is this: The Biden admin. is pushing the investment companies away from investments in the fossil fuel industries. See this from The Hill.
What’s the carbon footprint of your investment portfolio? The banking regulators want to know.
I agree with Oldflyer. Look at the forty-mile Russian Army convoy stuck in Ukraine. Some of the problem is shoddy maintenance and subpar tires. The general in charge of that operation ought to be looking for a taxi to Poland – his ass is grass.
If their army isn’t up to snuff om maintaining their gear and planning resupply, would their nuclear defenses be perfect?
I was in Saint Petersburg in 2006. We passed the Russian Naval Base at Kronstadt on the way in and out of Saint Petersburg. (“In the present time and traditionally, the seat of the Russian admiralty and the base of the Russian Baltic Fleet is located in Kronstadt guarding the approaches to St. Petersburg.”) I was shocked at the state of disrepair of the ships and the buildings. It was clear there wasn’t much money being spent for doing the required maintenance. It calibrated with the generally poor maintenance of most of the infrastructure we saw around Saint Petersburg.
I have a friend who travels to Russia om missionary work. My impression from his descriptions is that things have gotten somewhat better in recent years, but basically, outside the major cities, Russia is still in Third World status.
Eric Hoffer always said, “if you want to know the condition of a society, ask for the records of maintenance.” Even more true for the condition of an army or navy.
Putin may think he’s safe from nukes, but as Davvid Foster points out, it’s not likely his defenses would intercept hundreds of incoming missiles. And the U.S. holds the Ace-in-the-hole that assures destruction of any nuclear enemy – our nuclear sub fleet.
I would imagine life has gotten a lot more exciting these days at NORAD, SAC, and aboard our nuclear subs.
JimNorCal;
‘Any nation holding funds’…
You’ve put your finger on the real long term issue and the damage done. The situation in Ukraine will probably be largely resolved one way or another in a month or two, and the world will adjust accordingly. The real ‘fallout’, so to speak, will be the loss of trust in American investment instruments; dollars, bonds, real estate, etc. The safety of investing ‘American’ has always been our economic ace card and this idiot administration has just thrown it away.
Always suspected crypto of being a backdoor to CBDC. It’s looking more like it every day.
I hope Elon can resist the pressure. If not, it’s back to Toyota for me!
The old missile defense systems in the US were designed to protect our land based missiles so they could be fired off in a retaliatory strike. The USSR put their missile defense around Moscow to protect the Party. They were not worried about their missiles because they knew the US would never do a first strike and that they would whenever they calculated that the Party leadership would be the surviving power.
I don’t expect they have changed that policy of first strike. To be done whenever it appears that they will be better off after than not doing it. Tit for tat is not in their system, if they go nuke they will go all in from the start.
The Fleet Ballistic Missile Force cannot be prevented from launching, and enough warheads would get through, to turn parts of Russia to glass. Putin knows this.
I don’t think he wants that to happen.
The problem is that, at least in theory, the Soviets thought that they could WIN a nuclear exchange.
One must assume that their descendants—DESCENDANT?—may think so still.
Of course a major question here is, Do they really, really wanna find out?
To be sure, a serious nuclear hootenanny will probably save “Biden” a whole lotta trouble insofar as the US is concerned (though imagine the frustration should US defenses actually work when put to the test…) even if most sane people probably believe a nuclear exchange would be, um, “undesirable”…
File under: But, um, define “win”……
Project Veritas rides again!
…Here’s something rather interesting about January 6…albeit certainly nothing new for those who’ve actually been following that vicious and disgusting hoax…but this could be—COULD BE—dynamite:
“NYT Reporter Says ‘Ton Of FBI Informants’ Were At J6…”—
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/nyt-reporter-says-ton-fbi-informants-were-j6-calls-traumatized-fellow-journos-biches
No, nothing new, but still very much worth reading since one might not be hearing (or seeing) too much more from the NYT reporter in question…
In fact this particular slip-up might truly be an Act of God(TM). How did Project Veritas ever manage such a bombshell… (Maybe the bigger question is, Why did the NYT reporter ever tell the truth in the first place???)
Possible ramifications? Even thought the story will undoubtedly be killed, squelched, deep-sixed, hidden, digitally incinerated—what’s the term, “smothered with a pillow”?—it may, nonetheless, be necessary for the Esteemed Legal Scholar who heads the DOJ to once again pull out his ever handy “Ray Epps Nothing-To-See-Here” card so that, poof! the story will “disappear”.
(Now THAT might be “fun” to watch…seeing that Dear Old Jurisprudence shredder squirm a bit…perspire…clear a frog in his throat. LIE…again. Jus’ sayin’…)
File under: Veritas, Veritas, though shalt pursue.
And another trademark “Biden” diplomatic “victory”:
“Saudis, UAE Refuse To Take Biden’s Calls To Discuss Ukraine Situation, Talk To Putin Instead”—
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/saudis-uae-refuse-speak-biden-over-ukraine-situation
After “Biden”‘s tremendous “victory” in the Iran “negotiations”, he probably thought they’d be ecstatic, too. Or maybe not.
So why not give ’em a call? Say hello? Reassure them? The least “he” could do…
In any event, one might see their point (no, the Iran deal is not ONLY about Israel—though all those liberals who voted for “Biden” might be scratching their heads, wondering just how they can pin this “Biden” victory on Trump—kinda like they were able to do it for Afghanistan!)
Yes, one can see their point. Truly, what might there be to talk about…?
To be sure, “Biden” might in fact have called them TO pay them a courtesy; TO reassure them…
Oh, something along the lines of… “Now look here: don’t take the latest Iran deal the wrong way. It’s nothing personal, really. Not at all. It’s in ALL OUR interests. PEACE IS in ALL OUR interests… I know you’ll agree… I just wanted to call and reassure you that I perfectly understand your concerns; in fact your concerns were a priority for our negotiation team from DAY 1 and all the way down the line. You know that you can ALWAYS rely on my personal support, the SUPPORT of the USA, no question. Well, I’m glad we settled that. I knew you’d understand. Yep, I knew I could count on you. Well, bye for now. Let’s keep in touch!…”
Indeed. Let’s!
Now that “Biden” is planning to buy oil from—“the-US-has-NEVER-been-at-war-with”—Venezuela, “he” will be taking some of the pressure off “his” buddy in the Kremlin (who certainly has HIS hands full at the moment), WRT providing financial support to that beleaguered Russian ally and supporter in S. America.
Yep, “helping out a friend”, “picking up the slack in times of need”.
I don’t think “Biden” really has much of a choice, here: it’s the American way.
Indeed, times are a bit tricky for Putin right now WRT keeping up remittances to his ardent supporters…and so “Biden” feels that as a good friend he really must help out.
Doing what friends do.
Doing what comes naturally.
Indeed, Venezuela needs tons of support now that Putin is a bit DISTRACTED with other things….
The empathetic “Biden” no doubt feels Maduro’s pain—and given “his” impressive capability for massively delusional thinking, may even believe that this is a huge strategy opportunity to “turn” the charismatic Venezuelan leader into a friend!… Someone to admire. Someone to count on…
“Increasingly isolated, Putin finds a few allies in Latin America”—
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/increasingly-isolated-putin-finds-a-few-allies-in-latin-america/ar-AAUEgro
Key grafs:
“…Russia has…been a lifeline for Venezuela, supplying it with billions of dollars in arms and investing in its oil industry after Hugo Chavez became president in 1999 and embraced socialism.
“That support has continued under Maduro. In 2019, as he was fighting a U.S.-backed effort to oust him from power, Russia sent specialists to service military equipment…”
File under: “A friend in need…”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-x8szAprS8
Always ready to do his friends a favor!
Postscript:
Now don’t y’all get any ideas…
“Biden” doesn’t HAVE TO buy oil from Venezuela. As I already mentioned, “he” is JUST doing it to help….
“Biden Says He Isn’t Holding Back US Energy Production”—
https://dailycaller.com/2022/03/08/joe-biden-white-house-domestic-energy-production-russia/
The man simply has a beautiful soul. (Smart too…)
https://behindtheblack.com/behind-the-black/points-of-information/todays-blacklisted-american-renowned-cancer-researcher-fired-for-wearing-halloween-costume-13-years-ago/
By the way, you have to scrounge to locate an institution in this country which is run by a worthwhile individual.
According to joke bidet, it’s OK for other nations to produce and INCREASE their production or oil and gas, but it’s not OK for the USA to do so.
Just another demonstration of what joke bidet and the demonkrats think of the citizens of this nation.
They hate and reject the notion of a govt of, by and for the people, and instead firmly believe that THEIR govt exists to impose their world view upon the citizenry, irrespective of the will of the people.
In this regard, their ideal of a govt of, for and by the leftist ruling elites is in accordance with the thinking of Putin, Maduro/Castro and other dictators -past and present.
When John Kerry was asked about the Ukraine disaster , his reply dealt with climate change; not ONE word of empathy for the civilians – esp. children – that have been targeted and killed by the Russian.
What does this tell us about him and all those that think like him?
It demonstrates they do not care in the slightest about the suffering or harm ordinary folks experience. All that matters to them is FORCING their ideology upon the people.
It’s truly unfortunate that the likes of Kerry and Bidet and others, cannot be dropped into the most violent , deadly region of Ukraine and hope the Russian military takes good care of them.
Neo, our defense system has always been “MAD”; and it has been effective. The key to the concept has been a dispersed, multi-pronged retaliatory response capability. It may be that Obama degraded our capabilities to an extent; and Biden may intend to degrade them further over time; but, no sane person would test them. Now, Putin may be crazy enough; but, he needs someone equally crazy to carryout the order. Let’s hope that the entire hierarchy of the Russian nuclear force is not crazy as well.
I believe it is impossible to defend the whole of Russia from a major nuclear attack, just as it is impossible to defend the entire United States. So, while Moscow, and certain other high value targets, may–or may not– be effectively defended, the cost to the country as a whole would be devastating.
Putin has accomplished a lot over the past few weeks, No, he very publicly has not achieved his goals. I refer to that inevitable result of any government action–unintended consequences. He has stirred a slumbering NATO; and he has reminded the United States’ policy elites that it is a dangerous world. I am not sure that the denizens of DC care that much about the Ukrainian people, but rattling the nuclear sabre sure makes an impression.
Seriously ? People actually believe Russia has more advance anti-missile systems than the US ?
Have I got a bridge to sell you!!!