Monday open thread: Slava Ukraini!
Well!
The past weekend has been something of a piker for those rooting for Russia's victory over Ukraine.
You can look at all the details on Twitter and the scant mainstream media reports. But it seems that Ukraine is kicking Russia to the proverbial curb.
Ukraine has regained more territory in the past few days than Russia has conquered since it began its so-called "special military operation".
I don't think I can overstate this. Ukraine, which was supposed to be rolled over by the world's "second biggest army", has turned the tables in a most salubrious manner. Russia is on the verge of a geopolitical catastrophe. It began its war in Ukraine on the basis of the belief that it would steamroll in and install a puppet government. It didn't do that. But analysts settled on a drawn-out, World War One type trench warfare stalemate. Instead, Ukraine has engaged in an all-out blitzkrieg, rolling up Russian battalions.
Russia has constituted a new corps consisting of old reservists and prison parolees. Forgive me if I don't think these new troops will be able to be thrown into the fray and make any effective resistance. They may have weapons, but they have no training or incentive. They will merely be cannon fodder for a failed strategy.
Ukraine has been striking into all of its occupied territory, including Crimea. And, let's not mince words: This is in part due to the leadership shown by President Joe Biden in rallying the West to support a nation under attack from a revanchist Russia. Putin thought that the West was weak and wouldn't support Ukraine. Once he saw that it would, he should have cut his losses and negotiated,. But he saw himself as the reincarnation of Peter I, building a great Russian Empire. What he is instead is his grandson Peter III, who was assassinated in his palace by his more capable wife Catherine the Great.
What we are witnessing is a geopolitical upending of the highest order. A nuclear state is being rolled up by a state which gave up its nuclear weapons in the aftermath of the Cold War, under the treaty promise that Russia wouldn't invade it. Russia did, and the bully is being beaten down. The way Ukraine treats bullies is how we should treat our own. Punch them in the nose, and they back down. We've seen this with the caterwauling over Pres. Biden's speech calling out MAGA as a fascist movement. Give these people no quarter. Treat them with the derision they deserve.
Freedom is on the march. We have to support it.