The fog of war has been unusually thick lately. I may have the order incorrect, but first we had a report of an attack on the large Ukrainian Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, then that it had been captured by the … Continue reading →
…that I haven’t made many specific predictions about what will happen in the war in Ukraine, or about details such as bombings and casualties and the like. I leave that to others, and there’s plenty of it to go around … Continue reading →
A lot of people on the right, both on this blog and elsewhere, are arguing that Putin did what he did in Ukraine because of NATO’s “expansion” towards his borders. I’ve been arguing otherwise for quite some time, mounting similar … Continue reading →
We’ve been talking a lot about what Putin thinks and what he intends. But he gave a speech right before the invasion of Ukraine that purportedly explained his motives and aims. Although of course he might have been lying – … Continue reading →
I was plowing through some of Putin’s speeches and it occurred to me suddenly that he might be described as a Slavophile. It’s a term I remember from a class I took in college called “Russian Intellectual History.” But I … Continue reading →
I’m ignoring Biden’s speech for now, although you’re welcome to talk about it. Here are excerpts from some speeches that interest me more. Ukraine’s ambassador to the UN: The Kenyan ambassador: Zelensky addresses the European Parliament:
Continue reading →I’m having an unusually busy day today and I’m getting a late start at blogging. I probably will be posting this evening. Meanwhile, I think this is an interesting video: Are you going to watch Biden’s State of the Union … Continue reading →
Highly unusual: Switzerland will adopt all the sanctions that the European Union has imposed on Russian people and companies and freeze their assets to punish the invasion of Ukraine, the government said in a sharp deviation from the country’s traditional … Continue reading →
[NOTE: I don’t usually post on Sundays, but so much is happening that I thought I’d just put up a brief one and start a new thread that way. So here it is.] Wish I was a mind reader, but … Continue reading →
First, a general caveat: we have the fog of war, so there’s no reason to trust any reports. But still, there’s a general drift, and it may be correct. The general drift is that Putin is surprised that the Ukrainians … Continue reading →
A lot of people figured that Putin’s stated intentions weren’t really his stated intentions, and are belatedly realizing that apparently he meant what he said. So it might be a good idea to familiarize yourself with what he’s been saying … Continue reading →
(1) For sanctions to work, they should not necessarily be considered a deterrence or a punishment. I suppose they would be a deterrence if the leader or leaders involved could be deterred that easily, but that sort of leader isn’t … Continue reading →