OT subject but worth a main-stream read- OT News Feeds...

lousubcap

Today's Russia-Ukraine update:

"Russian President Vladimir Putin is preparing for a long war in Ukraine, with even victory in the east potentially not ending the conflict, U.S. intelligence has warned. Avril Haines, the director of national intelligence, told a U.S. Senate committee hearing yesterday that Putin was still intending "to achieve goals beyond the Donbas," but that he "faces a mismatch between his ambitions and Russia's current conventional military capabilities." She added that the Russian president was "probably" counting on U.S. and E.U. support for Ukraine to weaken as inflation, food shortages and energy prices got worse. George Wright reports for BBC News. 

Ukrainian troops have reclaimed some towns near the northern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, in an effort to push Russian forces back towards the border. The settlements of Cherkaski Tyshky, Ruski Tyshki, Borshchova and Slobozhanske were back in Ukrainian hands, according to a military spokesperson. BBC News reports."

lousubcap

And an interesting read:  Frictionless conduit here-

WEDNESDAY, MAY 11, 2022

Saahil Desai SENIOR ASSOCIATE EDITOR

Ukraine is winning the war, Eliot A. Cohen writes. But the country must still decide what it hopes to accomplish. Then: Why basketball is America’s greatest export.

Cardboard nostalgia (Kirill Kudryavtsev / AFP / Getty) Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is not, to say the least, going to plan. In the nearly three months since the early-morning siege with which it jump-started the war, Russia has failed to oust Volodymyr Zelensky or take hold of Kyiv, forcing Vladimir Putin to narrow his objectives, and then narrow them again. On top of that, a wave of economic sanctions from the West is sending Russia’s economy into a recession. In Ukraine, meanwhile, millions have been forced to flee the country, entire cities have been reduced to rubble, and Russia has made gains in the east. Here are three perspectives on where the invasion stands—and where it might go from here. Putin is offering watered-down nostalgia. On Monday, Russia celebrated “Victory Day,” a holiday commemorating the defeat of Nazi Germany. Instead of promising his people victory in Ukraine or prosperity, Putin used the day to issue grievances about the past and the present. “In practice, Putinism is a powerful but ultimately empty ideology,” my colleague Anne Applebaum argues. “Its propaganda divides people from one another, creates suspicion, and promotes apathy. State media put forth multiple nonsensical explanations for reality, including multiple nonsensical reasons for the invasion of Ukraine.” The outcome in Ukraine could hinge on the air war. In theory, Russia has the troop numbers and military might to crush Ukraine. So why hasn’t it? Putin and his generals fail to understand the importance of airpower, suggest the military-strategy experts Phillips Payson O’Brien and Edward Stringer: The “recent modernization of the Russian air force, although intended to enable it to conduct modern combined operations, was mostly for show. The Russians wasted money and effort on corruption and inefficiency. Though much was made of the flashy new equipment, such as the much-hyped SU-34 strike aircraft, the Russian air force continues to suffer from flawed logistics operations and the lack of regular, realistic training.” There’s no return to “normalcy.” Even if Ukraine wins and Putin is ousted, Russia won’t be able to rejoin the international community as it has been, notes Cohen, a contributing writer. “This will be the hardest task of American statecraft going forward: dealing with a Russia reeling from defeat and humiliation, weakened but still dangerous, isolated but not without sympathizers or at least willing collaborators around the world,” Cohen writes.

lousubcap

Today's Russia-Ukraine update:

"There has been intense shelling along the front lines in the Luhansk region today, a Ukrainian official has said. Serhiy Hayday, head of the Luhansk region military administration, said the enemy had "completely destroyed the captured settlements in Luhansk ... Shelling intensified along the entire Luhansk front." However, Hayday gave no indication that any towns or villages in the area had fallen to the Russians. Tim Lister reports for CNN. 

Ukrainian forces are continuing to counter-attack to the north of Kharkiv, recapturing several towns and villages towards the Russian border, according to the U.K. Ministry of Defense’s latest intelligence update. Russia’s prioritisation of operations in the Donbas has left Russian units deployed in the Kharkiv region vulnerable to Ukrainian counterattacks, the update adds. 

There is a growing threat of the fighting in Ukraine spilling into a direct conflict between Russia and NATO, Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy head of Russia’s Security Council, has said. Growing Western arms supplies to Ukraine and training for its troops have “increased the probability that an ongoing proxy war will turn into an open and direct conflict between NATO and Russia” he said, adding that “there is always a risk of such conflict turning into a full-scale nuclear war, a scenario that will be catastrophic for all.” AP reports.  

The Russian military's failure to seize the Ukrainian capital was inevitable because in the preceding years they had never directly faced a powerful enemy, a former mercenary with the Kremlin-linked Wagner Group has said. Marat Gabidullin took part in Wagner Group missions on the Kremlin's behalf in Syria and in a previous conflict in Ukraine, before deciding to go public about his experience inside the secretive private military company. Reuters reports. "

lousubcap

Here's another take on the Russia-Ukraine war:

"Even bigger picture: "The Russians aren't winning, and the Ukrainians aren't winning,"U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Scott Berrier, who is in charge of the Defense Intelligence Agency, told lawmakers on Tuesday. "The Kremlin likely calculates that a victory over Ukraine will compel most of the Soviet successor states to align themselves more closely with Moscow, but a military setback for Russia or a lengthy drawn-out campaign in Ukraine probably will have the opposite effect." And that's more or less what we're witnessing with the changes sweeping Finland and Sweden. Analysts at the Institute for the Study of War detail the latest on the apparent stalemate developing in the east. And the Wall Street Journal has more on how the east has largely become a long-range artillery war now. "

Eoin

lousubcap said:

...... the Wall Street Journal has more on how the east has largely become a long-range artillery war now. "

And who has the longest range artillery now?

Gulfcoastguy

Eoin said:

lousubcap said:

...... the Wall Street Journal has more on how the east has largely become a long-range artillery war now. "

And who has the longest range artillery now?

If you don’t count ballistic missiles Ukraine does. Western 155mm guns out range Soviet 152 mm guns handily. There is a large variety of guided ammunition and range extended ammunition included with the donated howitzers. It depends on who runs out of warm bodies first.

lousubcap

Friday Russia-Ukraine update:

"Ukrainian forces destroyed a pontoon bridge and parts of a Russian armoured column as it tried to cross a river in the Donbas region, video footage released today has shown. Ukraine is now in control of territory stretching to the banks of the Siverskiy Donets River, around 25 miles east of Kharkiv. Jonathan Landay reports for Reuters. 

Conducting river crossings in a contested environment is a highly risky manoeuvre, and the fact that Russian forces have been attempting them speaks to the pressure the Russian commanders are under to make progress in their operation in eastern Ukraine, a  U.K. Ministry of Defense intelligence update has said. Russian forces have failed to make any significant advances despite concentrating forces in this area after withdrawing and redeploying units from the Kyiv and Chernihiv regions, the update added. 

Ukrainian officials say their forces took out another Russian ship in the Black Sea. Oleksiy Arestovych, an adviser to the Ukrainian president, said yesterday the Vsevolod Bobrov logistics ship was struck as it was trying to deliver an anti-aircraft system to Snake Island. He said the ship was badly damaged but was not believed to have sunk. AP reports. 

Russia has said it will be forced to take "retaliatory steps" over its neighbour Finland's move to join NATO. A foreign ministry statement said the move would seriously damage bilateral relations, as well as security and stability in northern Europe. Russia's deputy U.N. representative Dmitry Polyansky said Sweden and Finland would become possible targets for Russia if they become Nato members, according to Russian news agency Ria. BBC News reports. "

JohnInCarolina

lousubcap said:

Friday Russia-Ukraine update:

"Ukrainian forces destroyed a pontoon bridge and parts of a Russian armoured column as it tried to cross a river in the Donbas region, video footage released today has shown. Ukraine is now in control of territory stretching to the banks of the Siverskiy Donets River, around 25 miles east of Kharkiv. Jonathan Landay reports for Reuters. 

Conducting river crossings in a contested environment is a highly risky manoeuvre, and the fact that Russian forces have been attempting them speaks to the pressure the Russian commanders are under to make progress in their operation in eastern Ukraine, a  U.K. Ministry of Defense intelligence update has said. Russian forces have failed to make any significant advances despite concentrating forces in this area after withdrawing and redeploying units from the Kyiv and Chernihiv regions, the update added. 

Ukrainian officials say their forces took out another Russian ship in the Black Sea. Oleksiy Arestovych, an adviser to the Ukrainian president, said yesterday the Vsevolod Bobrov logistics ship was struck as it was trying to deliver an anti-aircraft system to Snake Island. He said the ship was badly damaged but was not believed to have sunk. AP reports. 

Russia has said it will be forced to take "retaliatory steps" over its neighbour Finland's move to join NATO. A foreign ministry statement said the move would seriously damage bilateral relations, as well as security and stability in northern Europe. Russia's deputy U.N. representative Dmitry Polyansky said Sweden and Finland would become possible targets for Russia if they become Nato members, according to Russian news agency Ria. BBC News reports. "

The Finland and Sweden joining NATO developments will certainly merit attention in the coming year.

lousubcap

Vlad is definitely not getting what he thought would happen regarding NATO with his war.  As this drags on, my concern about no way out for him only deepens.  He is in a trick-sack. 
Unfortunately about all he has is to figure out how to "declare victory" and move on.  However, victory at a minimum would likely require annexing some piece of the Donbas and Ukraine is bound not to accept that-at least now.  
He and Lavrov will continue to remind the world he has nukes-It's the only card that gains him leverage beyond the third world country he has in Russia.  At least how I see it from here on a Friday...

nolaegghead

lousubcap said:

Vlad is definitely not getting what he thought would happen regarding NATO with his war.  As this drags on, my concern about no way out for him only deepens.  He is in a trick-sack. 
Unfortunately about all he has is to figure out how to "declare victory" and move on.  However, victory at a minimum would likely require annexing some piece of the Donbas and Ukraine is bound not to accept that-at least now.  
He and Lavrov will continue to remind the world he has nukes-It's the only card that gains him leverage beyond the third world country he has in Russia.  At least how I see it from here on a Friday...

Yep.  Also scary to think he's the kind of monster that might just push the button regardless of how in the world this shakes out if he had some terminal disease like brain cancer.  (actually, that might explain some things)...."if I'm gonna go I'm taking the world with me..."

Enjoy life while you can.

HeavyG

nolaegghead said:

lousubcap said:

Vlad is definitely not getting what he thought would happen regarding NATO with his war.  As this drags on, my concern about no way out for him only deepens.  He is in a trick-sack. 
Unfortunately about all he has is to figure out how to "declare victory" and move on.  However, victory at a minimum would likely require annexing some piece of the Donbas and Ukraine is bound not to accept that-at least now.  
He and Lavrov will continue to remind the world he has nukes-It's the only card that gains him leverage beyond the third world country he has in Russia.  At least how I see it from here on a Friday...

Yep.  Also scary to think he's the kind of monster that might just push the button regardless of how in the world this shakes out if he had some terminal disease like brain cancer.  (actually, that might explain some things)...."if I'm gonna go I'm taking the world with me..."

Enjoy life while you can.

In that vein:

Nuclear strike reaction not what you would expect
By Tyler Cowen Bloomberg Opinion

What if Russia used a tactical nuclear weapon in Ukraine? There has been plenty of speculation as to whether this might happen, or how we should limit the chance that it does. But less has been said about how to react should Vladimir Putin decide to launch a nuclear strike.
I’m not talking about major nuclear war, when those questions might be moot. Instead consider that the Russians deploy a tactical nuke, the Western coalition splinters due to fear of further strikes and Russia keeps part of Ukraine as Putin claims a daring victory. The battle lines ossify. Putin’s likely rhetoric notwithstanding, it would fall somewhere between a Russian win and a Russian loss.
What does that world look like, and how should we prepare for it?
Until recently, my view was that any actual use of a nuclear weapon, no matter the scale, would dramatically change everything. Nuclear use would no longer be considered taboo, and the world would enter a state of collective shock and trauma. Other countries around the world would start frantically preparing for war, or the possibility of war.
But recent events have nudged me away from that viewpoint. For instance, I have seen a pandemic that arguably has caused about 15 million deaths worldwide, yet many countries, including the U.S. haven’t made major changes in their pandemic preparation policies. That tells me we are more able to respond to a major catastrophe with collective numbness than I would have thought possible.
I also have seen Trumpian politics operate through the social media cycle. Former President Donald Trump did and said outrageous things on a regular basis and even if you agree with some of them, the relevant point is that his opponents sincerely found them outrageous. Yet the rapidity of the social media news cycle meant that most of those actions failed to stick as major failings. Each outrage would be followed by another that would blot out the memory of the preceding one. The notion of “Trump as villain” became increasingly salient, but the details of Trumpian provocations mattered less and less.
Might the detonation of a tactical nuclear weapon follow a similar pattern? Everyone would opine on it on Twitter for a few weeks before moving on to the next terrible event. “Putin as villain” would become all the more entrenched, but dropping a tactical nuclear weapon probably wouldn’t be the last bad thing he would do.
To cite the terminology of venture capitalist Marc Andreessen, the tactical nuclear weapon might stay “the Current Thing” for a relatively short period of time.
Maybe the potency of the nuclear concept, and its instantiation in the actual slaughter of innocents, would create more long-lasting trauma than this, but I am no longer sure.
We don’t know how many people such a weapon would exterminate, but it’s quite possible that it would kill only a small fraction of the number that have died in the war overall. Russia could either use a small nuke or avoid aiming it at a densely populated area. And it already is the case that Roe v. Wade debates are pushing the Ukraine war out of the forefront of our consciousness, at least in the U.S.
The nuclear strike probably would have foreign policy consequences across the broader world. More countries might seek to acquire nuclear weapons or other weapons of mass destruction. Those events could become the new outrages, subsuming Putin’s tactical nuke deployment in a broader wave of condemnation.
The administration of President Joe Biden faces options, including in the realm of communications. One is to let this process operate and allow the world not to freak out so much about the tactical nuclear deployment, which might end up being another event in a long and bloody war. Many people will feel, perhaps correctly, that the same simply cannot happen to them. Even if you think we ought to instead punish Putin severely, this may not be possible if the NATO coalition has fractured out of fear.
The downside is we would be normalizing nuclear weapons use while encouraging Putin to continue in his depredations.
The alternative is to speak repeatedly about Russia’s nuclear outrage and to keep the attention of the world focused on it. The risk in doing so is that we would elevate Putin’s rebellion against Western norms and raise his supposedly heroic profile among those who support him. If you talk about a tyrant but don’t punish him, he may end up all the stronger.
What if they gave a nuclear war and no one came? Or at least no one squawked too loudly? We should give this matter some thought.

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

*************

lousubcap

@HeavyG - thanks for that read.  Clearly use of a tactical nuke would bring lots of collateral issues as noted above.  However, beyond the unleashing of more kilotons of explosive, what would the objective be?  I suspect it would not be any great battlefield victory but a power play of a leader seeking to salvage and shore up his regime.  We need to look no further than North Korea to see a script.
At least from my perspective.  Remember it is Friday and I am no foreign relations or diplomacy scholar.  But I have been face-to-face with nukes.  

nolaegghead

Tactical nukes would be crossing a line.  Putin seems to be setting Russia up to be in "response" mode as he's cited Finland and Ukraine's treaty violations as excuses for more actions, real or inferred, from Russia on the world.

As Putin already is pursuing "scorched earth" tactics on the Ukrainian cities, it's not much of a stretch to imagine, cornered, to start launching them.  As to what his goal would be if he annihilates Kiev, we still don't know his end game, but he doesn't seem concerned with all the usual "governors" of behavior in the geopolitical sphere.  And what he's doing in Ukraine is nothing new, for him, if you look at Syria and some of the other eastern European conflicts he's promulgated. 

Botch

lousubcap said:

Vlad is definitely not getting what he thought would happen regarding NATO with his war.  As this drags on, my concern about no way out for him only deepens.  He is in a trick-sack.  

Bob  @kayak thought so too; I'm not so sure its "NATO Creep" that is bothering putin; that's been happening since NATO's inception but its never bothered him until Ukraine (which actually hadn't applied formally for that membership).  
 

 
Granted, putin has not been in power this entire time, but a lot of countries did join under his watch with no apparent effect.  
I'm thinking it was more the Ukraine revolution in 2014, and an anti-russian taking power, and the protests in Moscow in 2010 where putin decided to run again, that really rattled him (iirc it was also 2014 when putin first invaded eastern U/Donbass). He was just scared of a similar revolution in his own capital, and he took major steps to secure his own skin:
a.  he started another secret security police force*, some 60K strong, around him to start cracking down at home, and
b.  find a scapegoat (ukranian nazis) to redirect russian unhappiness towards someone else (the republican party playbook, in a nutshell).  
 
I've also read https://time.com/4422723/putin-russia-hillary-clinton/ that he believed HRC was plotting to overthrow him, which is why he took such great lengths to meddle in the trump/clinton pres election.  Makes sense.  
 
*also can't help wonder if putin's now put his full trust in his secret police, since he seems to be killing off/jailing so many senior military leaders (who might, possibly, have more allegiance to their country than to its leader).  

nolaegghead

Botch said:

 
*also can't help wonder if putin's now put his full trust in his secret police, since he seems to be killing off/jailing so many senior military leaders (who might, possibly, have more allegiance to their country than to its leader).  

Hmmmmm.....where have we seen that pledge before....

Kayak

Botch 

Bob  @kayak thought so too; I'm not so sure its "NATO Creep" that is bothering putin; that's been happening since NATO's inception but its never bothered him until Ukraine (which actually hadn't applied formally for that membership).  

Not going to respond to this!

Gulfcoastguy

Good luck with trying to persuade another country to give up its nukes in exchange for a guarantee of safety.

JohnInCarolina

Gulfcoastguy said:

Good luck with trying to persuade another country to give up its nukes in exchange for a guarantee of safety.

Yep.

dbCooper

Gulfcoastguy said:

Good luck with trying to persuade another country to give up its nukes in exchange for a guarantee of safety.

My understanding of the rational put forth by Russia for not honoring that treaty (guarantee) is one of the signers, Ukraine, no longer exists in the same form as when they signed.  Because Crimea and elections. 

Probably too far-fetched a concept for a movie plot I would think.

Botch

Kayak said:

Botch 

Bob  @kayak thought so too; I'm not so sure its "NATO Creep" that is bothering putin; that's been happening since NATO's inception but its never bothered him until Ukraine (which actually hadn't applied formally for that membership).  

Not going to respond to this!

I was hoping you would, Bob, because your posts in this thread, even though I don't always agree with them, are well thought-out.  You could PM me and I'll keep them in confidence, or not.    

lousubcap

With the main sources for the Russia-Ukraine war update dark on weekends, here's a couple of articles:

Insights, analysis and must reads from CNN's Fareed Zakaria and the Global Public Square team, compiled by Global Briefing editor Chris Good

 Seeing this newsletter as a forward? Subscribe here.

 May 12, 2022

NATO Marches On?

As Finland and Sweden appear poised to join NATO, observers have marveled for weeks at the brewing development. In a New York Times opinion essay, former NATO secretary-general Anders Fogh Rasmussen noted what many others have: that Russian President Vladimir Putin has precipitated this, the “opposite” of his goal of halting NATO’s eastward, post-Cold War creep.
 
Two recent Foreign Affairs essays shed light on the situations Finland and Sweden face. Both have had complicated alliance histories and compelling reasons to stay neutral, former Swedish Prime Minister Carl Bildt wrote last month, but strengthening national defense alone is now seen as insufficient. 
 
“When” they join NATO, Bildt wrote, Finland and Sweden will add “considerable” land, air, and sea capabilities to the alliance, and “the security architecture of northern Europe will change.”
 
The accession period, which NATO seems eager to hasten, could leave Finland and Sweden open to Russian interference or attack before they fall under NATO’s collective defense, Kimberly Marten wrote last week, but Russia’s struggles in Ukraine suggest it may not have spare capacity to threaten them.

Rightly or Wrongly, History Hangs Over Putin’s War

World War II revivalism can be seen on both sides of the Atlantic, writes the Financial Times’ Gideon Rachman, as Russian President Vladimir Putin has baselessly accused Ukraine of being rife with Nazis, while the US has enacted a new version of the Lend-Lease Act. 
 
“There is an obvious danger to a situation in which both sides have convinced themselves—to some degree—that they are fighting the Nazis,” Rachman warns, as that would seem to dampen the prospect of negotiated peace.
 
Despite referencing Nazis, Putin may have a different history in mind. In the current issue of the Hoover Digest, historian Niall Ferguson writes that Peter the Great seems to be Putin’s inspiration, more so than Joseph Stalin. The 1709 Battle of Poltava, located in today’s Ukraine, solidified Peter’s Russia as a major power in northern Europe, and it appears to be what Putin seeks to recreate, Ferguson writes."

lousubcap

I routinely don't GAF about collecting the dislikes but the above article doesn't mention Cheeto or anything else I can find that disparages the right red side of the populace.
Perhaps the disliker will step forward and explain his/her position??  Time for some spine!

Botch

Heh, you wrote "dislike" and "spine" in the same post!    

lousubcap

Something for today:

"G-7 warns of Ukraine grain crisis amid war

Group also calling on China not to aid Russia

Frank Jordans

ASSOCIATED PRESS

WEISSENHAUS, Germany – The Group of Seven leading economies warned Saturday that the war in Ukraine is stoking a global food and energy crisis that threatens poor countries, and urgent measures are needed to unblock stores of grain that Russia is preventing from leaving Ukraine.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, who hosted a meeting of top G-7 diplomats, said the war had become a “global crisis.”

Baerbock said up to 50 million people, particularly in Africa and the Middle East, would face hunger in the coming months unless ways are found to release Ukrainian grain, which accounts for a sizeable share of the worldwide supply.

In statements released at the end of the three-day meeting on Germany’s Baltic Sea coast, the G-7 pledged to provide further humanitarian aid to the most vulnerable.

“Russia’s war of aggression has generated one of the most severe food and energy crises in recent history which now threatens those most vulnerable across the globe,” the group said.

“We are determined to accelerate a coordinated multilateral response to preserve global food security and stand by our most vulnerable partners in this respect,” it added.

Canada’s foreign minister, Melanie Joly, said her country, another major agricultural exporter, stands ready to send ships to European ports so Ukrainian grain can be brought to those in need. “We need to make sure that these cereals are sent to the world,” she told reporters. “If not, millions of people will be facing famine.”

Russia dismissed the claim that it was responsible for worsening global hunger and driving up food prices.

“Prices are rising because of sanctions imposed by the West under pressure of the USA,” said Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova. “Failure to understand this is a sign either of stupidity or intentional misleading of the public.” The G-7 nations also called on China not to help Russia, including by undermining international sanctions or justifying Moscow’s actions in Ukraine.

Beijing should support the sovereignty and independence of Ukraine, and not “assist Russia in its war of aggression,” they said. The G-7 urged China “to desist from engaging in information manipulation, disinformation and other means to legitimize Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine.”

The grouping, which comprises Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States, also reiterated its stance that the territories seized by Russian forces need to be returned to Ukraine. The meeting in Weissenhaus, northeast of Hamburg, was billed as an opportunity for officials to discuss the broader implications of the war for geopolitics, energy and food security, and ongoing international efforts to tackle climate change and the pandemic."

Edit to add the below:

"‘Escape From Moscow’

Russians—including those who survived World War II, as Meduza recently highlighted—have voiced mixed sentiments on Putin’s war. But at Foreign Affairs, Andrei Soldatov and Irina Borogan writethat noteworthy numbers are thought to have fled amid increasing domestic repression and Western sanctions.
 
“For Russia, the departure of so many educated professionals, academics, and businesspeople raises profound questions about the future makeup of the country,” they write. “For those seeking large-scale political change, it also poses a new challenge: whether it will be possible to effectively pressure the regime from abroad, with so much of the domestic opposition now in jail or simply gone. And for those left behind, the hollowing out of civil society means that they may be stuck with a country that is culturally impoverished, paranoid, and hard line.”

Botch

Tonight on 60 Minutes they interviewed the folks from Bellingcat, a non-profit that tracks things using social media and other 'net resources to track things, like:
1.  putin's approval of the missile that took down the Malaysian jetliner at the beginning of the Ukrainian war.  he soon ordered all his troops to stay off social media when "deployed".  
2.  The assassination order for the russian dissident and his daughter, both living in London; both poisoned.
3.  The assassination attempt on Navalny.  putin's assassination squads had been tracking and following him for four years, and putin has MANY such squads, being tracked by Bellingcat.
4.  Their really big project now is, of course, the atrocities in Ukraine.  They call it the most well-documented war in History; little chance of any thugs being tried by the Int'l Criminal Court, but no one thought slobodan melosewhatever would either, but he did.  
 
Interesting story.  

lousubcap

@Botch I need to get back into giving 60 Minutes a serious look however, it's not gonna be easy.  Sunday AM is dialed into national news summaries of the week.  By the time 7 PM (EDT) Sunday rolls around I am working on LEO so I have to get the advance program guide to allow me to manage the fuel load.  
That could be a challenge!

Botch

Cap'n, their website usually runs their 60 Minutes episodes with no paywall; I've used that a time or two.  

lousubcap

Monday's Russia-Ukraine war update:

"Russian forces yesterday fired around a dozen shells at part of a hospital in the city of Sievierodonetsk, in eastern Ukraine’s Luhansk region, according to the regional military administration. There were no details on casualties, but 200 of the hospital’s 300 beds are no longer usable. Matthew Mpoke Bigg reports for the New York Times.

Russian forces have likely abandoned the objective of completing a large-scale encirclement of Ukrainian units from Donetsk City to Izyum in favor of completing the seizure of the Luhansk region, according to an assessment by the Institute for the Study of War.  Russian forces are also likely fortifying occupied settlements in southern Ukraine, indicating that the Russians are seeking to establish permanent control in the region, the assessment adds. 

Russia is continuing to amplify its presence in Ukraine and has 105 battalion tactical groups devoted to the invasion, according to the Pentagon. However, those Russian forces are “not making any major gains” in the eastern Donbas region, a senior defense official said. Karoun Demirjian reports for the Washington Post.

Ukrainian troops defending the country's second-largest city, Kharkiv, have repelled Russian forces and advanced as far as the border with Russia, according to Ukrainian officials. If confirmed, it would suggest a Ukrainian counter-offensive is having increasing success in pushing back Russian forces in the northeast after Western military agencies said Moscow's offensive in the Donbas region had stalled. Reuters reports. 

Botch

Botch said:

lousubcap said:

Vlad is definitely not getting what he thought would happen regarding NATO with his war.  

I'm not so sure its "NATO Creep" that is bothering putin; that's been happening since NATO's inception but its never bothered him until Ukraine (which actually hadn't even applied formally for that membership)....a lot of countries did join under his watch with no apparent effect.  
I'm thinking it was more the Ukraine revolution in 2014, and an anti-russian taking power, and the protests in Moscow in 2010 when putin decided to run again, that really rattled him (iirc it was also 2014 when putin first invaded eastern U/Donbass). He was just scared of a similar revolution in his own capital, and he took major steps to secure his own skin:
a.  he started another secret security police force, some 60K strong, around him to start cracking down at home, and
b.  find a scapegoat (ukranian nazis) to redirect russian unhappiness towards someone else (the republican party playbook, in a nutshell). 

Tonight PBS News reported that, during a conference in Moscow (I didn't catch who all was in it, sounds like mostly his cronies) putin has flip-flopped and stated (they showed the video) that he has no issue with Sweden or Finland joining NATO, as long as NATO doesn't station more equipment there.  Finland had already stated that they wanted no NATO equipment, and (at least ten years ago, and iirc) NATO would be strengthened, not weakened, by Finland joining (don't f*ck with the Fins)).  
 
So, right now I feel somewhat vindicated (subject to change, of course).  If @littlerescue posts more accurate info, and Beau of the Fifth Column confirms it, then I shall slink off to a corner and weep in pitiful manner; you may guffaw.    

Gulfcoastguy

However Sweden said that they didn’t want nukes or other NATO forces based in their country. NATO ala carte?