BREAKING/DEVELOPING: Russia invades Ukraine

_{kairosfocus

February 24, 2022

Geo-strategic issues, News Highlights, rhetoric}

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Wikipedia initial map of the invasion, especially note a reported incursion from western Belarus and the main weight of reported bombings and incursions in the eastern trans-Dnieper region, the DonBass

Russian forces have launched a military assault on neighbouring Ukraine, crossing its borders and bombing military targets near big cities.
A residential building in Chuguev was destroyed after it was shelled.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned that Moscow’s response will be “instant” if anyone tries to take on Russia.
Ukraine has urged the UN “to do everything possible” to stop what it says is a full-scale war.

We could title this, the geostrategic price of weakness, starting with the USA. Recall here, my 2016 framework:

Of course as this seems overnight the fog of war is very much in effect and we need to bear in mind that we are unlikely to have a full or reliable picture. DEVELOPING, UPDATES TO FOLLOW

U/D Feb 25, a map of the course of the invasion:

Wikipedia’s updated but provisional map c Feb 24, showing reported lines of thrust. Note, provisional

U/D Feb 27: Wiki Map Feb 26

Wiki map c Feb 26, showing lodgement areas, thrusts and move to decapitate by taking Kiev

U/D Feb 28, let’s insert the Feb 28 Wiki map to compare:

U/D Feb 27: HT Daily Mail, a map of detail fighting near Kiev:

HT, Daily Mail, on fighting near Kiev. Seizing an airport as an air head is a known standard modern tactic for the side with air superiority. Compare Bagram in Afghanistan and its abandonment just before the US fleeing from Afghanistan

U/D, Feb 27: Geostrategic considerations:

U/D Feb 28, Putin puts nuke forces to high alert, issues implied threats, even as he agrees to talks — vid:

U/D Mar 1: Overnight on the updated operational situation map at Wikipedia:

Update overnight Feb 28/Mar 1. We see a bridgehead across the Dnieper in the South coming from Crimea, with a column advancing NW. To the N, a cluster of breakouts on the E bank are beginning to fan out and another is joining with the enclave to the E. Other columns are pushing in from the N and E, and the siege of Kharkov and Kiev are also underway. Air strikes cluster on Kiev but are spread across the whole country.

U/D, March 3: The already taken zones are being consolidated and extended and columns are surging out. Most notably, from Crimea to the West, and the thrust to Kiev is being broadened.

U/D Mar 4: VDH analyses, pivoting on the Javelin anti-tank missile:

U/D March 5, map is revised on Mar 3rd:

Notice here fresh probes from White Russia, a thrust to the W along a major road net towards Poland, a swing back towards Kiev for a thrust that was apparently aiming to pinch off a chunk of Northern Ukraine continued columns from the NE and the continuation of the western breakout from Crimea. Kiev and Kharkov seem to be holding,

U/D2 Mar 5, a Daily Mail Map:

This Daily Mail map is more outline and differs in details but tells the same basic story.

U/D May 8, a screen shot from Russian TV with a marked up encirclement in the E:

Oh yes, apparently there is an enemies list:

All EU member States,
The USA
Australia
Albania
Andorra
Czech Republic
Great Britain (including Jersey, Anguilla, British Virgin Islands and Gibraltar)
Iceland
Canada
Liechtenstein
Micronesia
Monaco
New Zealand
Norway
Republic of Korea
San Marino
North Macedonia
Singapore
Taiwan
Ukraine
Montenegro
Switzerland
Japan

They left off a raft of UK OT’s there, including Cayman, Montserrat, Turks and Caicos Islands, Bermuda, Isle of Man, Falklands, Pitcairn, St Helena, South Georgia etc. I guess they list where their offshore accounts are and got frozen?

U/D March 9, Putin in Southern Africa as a trainer for guerilla leaders, 1973:

This is my comment on an iHarare piece brought to my attention by people inclined to cheer on anything that is suggested as aiding liberation from Western Imperialism. An objection was made in the combox, that Putin’s age would be 20-ish and his official life story puts him in law school at relevant times. I noted that he was KGB and we can expect contradictory narratives, where the window is that in which military service is likely. The association with two African Presidents of the left is noteworthy. I suggest, assume it is not in fact Putin, that would only lead to, Russians were engaged in geostrategic pushes in guise of liberation movements, some of which have proved disastrous for ordinary people in certain African countries. The geostrategic point remains.

U/D: Wiki map, March 6, showing armoured thrusts far beyond the zones identified in a Russian proposal for ceasefire terms. Notice, these are by and large conservative relative to what has been shown on Russian TV, scroll up:

U/D, Mar 15 – 20: Russian forces consolidate while keeping Kiev under pressure:

The consolidation ratchets up pressure on Ukraine, the attacks on the capital can lead to decision, negotiations seem stalled over Russia’s demand for neutrality, which has already been seen as invitation to invasion. Sanctions have been put in place but are seldom decisive.

Comments

F/N: The Mar 9 Wiki map seems but little different from the March 6 one. KFkairosfocus_{March 11, 2022
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F/N: It seems there is an atrocity narrative being projected to taint Ukraine. As usual, there is strategically missing context, it seems: https://www.wnd.com/2022/03/state-department-official-acknowledges-ukraine-bio-labs/
The United States continues to dismiss as "Russian propaganda" the claim that Ukraine is developing biological weapons. However, the U.S. State Department's top Ukraine official made a startling admission to a Senate committee in response to Republican Sen. Marco Rubio's question, "Does Ukraine have chemical or biological weapons?" Undersecretary of State Victoria Nuland did not deny or confirm that Ukraine has chemical or biological weapons. She apparently surprised the senator and the panel by acknowledging the European nation does have "biological research facilities" that are a source of concern amid the Russian invasion. "Ukraine," Nuland began, speaking slowly and deliberately, "has biological research facilities which, in fact, we are now quite concerned Russian troops, Russian forces may be seeking to gain control of," said in response to a question from Republican Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida. Nuland said "we are working with the Ukrainians on how they can prevent any of those research materials from falling into the hands of Russian forces should they approach." The State Department later described the labs as Soviet-era facilities that the U.S. has helped Ukraine convert to research of infectious diseases. [--> see the strategic omission in the headlines?] Meanwhile, the National Pulse reported Wednesday that it recovered a deleted web article showing Barack Obama helped secure an agreement when he was a U.S. senator that led to the construction of biolabs in Ukraine handling "especially dangerous pathogens." A level-3 bio-safety lab opened in the Ukrainian city of Odessa in 2010. [--> Ukraine is a 40+ million population country with heritage from the USSR's top class education system, so would have capability here] A report one year later by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences' Committee on Anticipating Biosecurity Challenges of the Global Expansion of High-Containment Biological Laboratories said the Odessa laboratory "is responsible for the identification of especially dangerous biological pathogens." [--> so there was public record, note apparently not controversial at the time] "This laboratory was reconstructed and technically updated up to the BSL-3 level through a cooperative agreement between the United States Department of Defense and the Ministry of Health of Ukraine that started in 2005. The collaboration focuses on preventing the spread of technologies, pathogens, and knowledge that can be used in the development of biological weapons," the report said. Russia's Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova on Wednesday repeated Moscow's claim that the United States is operating "biowarfare labs" in Ukraine. Zakharova said Russia had evidence the Ukrainian health ministry ordered the destruction of samples of plague, cholera, anthrax and other pathogens before the Russian invasion began Feb. 24. She described it as "an emergency attempt to erase evidence of military biological programs" financed by the Pentagon. Pentagon spokesman John Kirby reacted, calling the claim "laughable" and suggesting Moscow itself may be preparing to use a biological or chemical weapon. [--> regrettably, turnabout accusations are used to cloud otherwise indefensible moves by ruthless powers]
So, some balance is needed. KF PS, I see this requires some withdrawal of an earlier inference as to what is "obvious," though sadly we cannot rule out such concerns.kairosfocus_{March 11, 2022
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LCD, bad on him if he did so, but that does not change the balance on the wrong of a massive invasion. The leader of Finland in 1939 was no democrat. KFkairosfocus_{March 10, 2022
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Zelensky really did this? Closed 3 Tv stations that criticized him, arrested opposition leader then destroyed that opposition party by jailing all leaders. https://www.youtube.com/shorts/505uQahvKvgLieutenant Commander Data_{March 10, 2022
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LCD, obviously, a way to evade regulations in the US, similar to the puppygate labs in North Africa and the Wuhan lab in China. KFkairosfocus_{March 10, 2022
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Sandy, actually an autocracy is only possible for a brief time, e.g. Moses as he set up the Israelite commonwealth. Oligarchy succeeds in the normal course and the debate becomes what the prophets so eloquently raised: lawful/lawless. It is only the breakthrough -- and yes in Christendom -- of print so mass literacy, vernacular editions of scripture, bills, tracts, emerging newspapers, coffee/chocolate/tea houses etc opened up public opinion and democratising forces in aftermath of the Protestant Reformation and the ferment it unleashed, itself part of the process. As for Tsar Putin I (he has up to four daughters . . . but so did some of the better Caesars) he is part of an oligarchy, the US situation, you will recall I raised serious objections about across 2020 when the ongoing 4th gen low kinetic, agit prop, street theatre and lawfare dominant civil war since c 2017 tainted the election process. KFkairosfocus_{March 10, 2022
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KF
the prison of nations under the Tsars and then the various arrangements under the Bolshevik usurpers, combined with especially the deliberate mass starvation of Ukrainians in the 1930’s
Good points. Pavel was not going back far enough in Russian history as he looked at mostly recent grievances against Ukraine.Silver Asiatic_{March 10, 2022
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Biolabs in Ukraine -US paid for. https://twitter.com/MartinH92966335/status/1501939528369524739 https://www.facebook.com/mod.mil.rus/videos/489970909234500/Lieutenant Commander Data_{March 10, 2022
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Kairosfocus On my spectrum, Putin is a lawless oligarch and can be addressed as such.
There are 2 kind of oligarchies one hidden type that everybody knows about but is foggy (US:deep state) and one type with a dictator( focus on one person: Putin). Both are the same . KF you try to justify that deep state is in the right and a single dictator is bad? This fight is between 2 types of criminality : a clan that have a hidden dictator(s) (deep state)fight another clan that have a known dictator(Putin). As we saw deep state don't care about own citizens(democrat policies,immigration,children sexualization,abortion, medical tyranny-covid) what make you think that deep state love Ukrainians ?Sandy_{March 10, 2022
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PS, I do see Pavel's pleas in the comments but there is key missing context. First, Russian history of geostrategically driven expansionism and murderous oppression constituting the prison of nations under the Tsars and then the various arrangements under the Bolshevik usurpers, combined with especially the deliberate mass starvation of Ukrainians in the 1930's. On that context, we see how once the Warsaw Pact disintegrated and USSR imploded, many states fled, including several former republics in the USSR. That speaks to the will of the peoples, compounded by various balkan like mixes of potentially mutually hostile ethnicities. Which, over the past 100+ years, has been used by expansionists in early phases. We must remember that Finland and Poland are as much former provinces as is the Ukraine. So, now, where are we if this aggression that goes far beyond DonBass and Crimea proceeds unchecked? Putin has needlessly precipitated geostrategic instability and we may not be able to prevent the sort of dominoes cascade that happened in the 30's. That has me quite concerned. Can we get back to the democratic compromise where the majority rules but the minority down to one will be heard and protected through defence of the civil peace of justice?kairosfocus_{March 9, 2022
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SA, Feser:
When I was a teenager in the 1980s, it was still routine to fling against conservatives the longstanding accusations that they were prone to demonize Russia, were paranoid about Russian influence within American institutions, were eager to get into armed conflict with the “Russkies,” were frighteningly glib about the survivability of limited nuclear war, and were inclined to resort to McCarthyite tactics and charges of treason against anyone who objected to all of this. These accusations were made despite the fact that Russia had recently invaded Afghanistan – not to mention the earlier invasions of Hungary and Czechoslovakia, or all the proxy wars Russia was engaged in throughout the Cold War. None of this, in liberal eyes, justified right-wing anti-Russian bellicosity or paranoia. Yet now it is liberals who are most prone to exhibit exactly these traits they once attributed to conservatives. What accounts for this bizarre reversal? I would submit that it has to do, in part, with Putin’s predilection for traditionalist Christian and anti-LGBT rhetoric (as Richard Hanania has pointed out), and in part with persistent left-wing attachment to fantasies about Russian interference with American elections. These factors had already transformed Putin into a bogeyman in the liberal imagination, so that his immoral invasion of Ukraine has made it seem justifiable to some to risk even nuclear war in order to destroy him. And it is, I would suggest, overreaction to these liberal excesses that has led some on the opposite extreme end of the political spectrum to refuse to face up to the full gravity of the evil that Putin has done. They have been tempted by the thought that if liberals hate Putin with such intensity, he can’t be that bad, and that opposition to his invasion must therefore have something essentially to do with the Great Reset, the woke agenda, the Covid healthcare dictatorship, etc. etc. This is all bonkers. The key facts to keep firmly before one’s mind are (a) that Putin’s invasion is unjustifiable, has caused the deaths of hundreds of innocent people so far and will almost certainly result in thousands more, and maybe worse, and (b) that NATO military engagement with Russia would entail a serious risk of nuclear war and therefore cannot be justified. Longstanding political obsessions cannot alter these facts, but only blind us to them.
Y'see, Putin and Russia are now deemed on the "right" wing. You will know this is routinely demonised and inaptly associated with Nazism [which is National Socialism]. As you know, I have advocated a more historically anchored spectrum that goes beyond extensions of who sat on the Speaker's favoured right hand, monarchists. On my spectrum, Putin is a lawless oligarch and can be addressed as such. To open [back?] up the space for constitutional, democratic freedom pivoting on the civil peace of justice, due balance of rights, freedoms and duties, we need to restore cultural buttresses, starting with literacy, a vigorous press and non censored public discussion. As well, the approach that recognises natural, built in law pivoting on first duties of reason. That law leads to the just war debate, and Feser is probably right that little can be justified on either side in Ukraine. I clip earlier:
The injustice of the invasion is obvious even given the most generous interpretation of Putin’s motives. Hence, suppose we conceded for the sake of argument that Russia has a legitimate interest in keeping Ukraine out of NATO. Suppose that, as some have argued, the United States and her allies have long been needlessly poking the bear, and that Russia would have been far less likely to invade Ukraine had they not done so. Even given those premises, it simply doesn’t follow that Ukraine is an “aggressor,” that Russia has suffered any “lasting, grave, and certain” damage from Ukraine, or that “all other means” of remedying Russia’s concerns “have been shown to be impractical or ineffective.” Nor is the extreme harm inflicted on innocent Ukrainians by war proportionate to whatever grievances Russia has. Hence Russia’s invasion of Ukraine cannot be said to meet the first, second, and fourth criteria for a just war, and therefore is manifestly gravely unjust. For that reason, military action to repel Russia’s invasion clearly is legitimate, and justice requires favoring the Ukrainian side in the war. In the abstract, support for Ukraine could include military action against Russia by any nation friendly to Ukraine. However, the justice of the cause of defending Ukraine fulfills only the first of the four criteria set out by the Catechism. What about the other three? Putin has not-so-subtly threatened to use nuclear weapons if the United States or other NATO countries intervene militarily in the conflict. The realistic prospect of such extreme escalation makes it impossible for such intervention to meet the Catechism’s fourth criterion, which emphasizes that “the power of modern means of destruction weighs very heavily in evaluating this condition.” The use of nuclear weapons against Ukraine, to which Russia might resort if NATO intervenes, would surely “produce evils and disorders graver than the evil to be eliminated.” Graver still would be a situation where Ukraine, other nearby NATO states, and Russia (as a result of NATO nuclear retaliation) were all attacked with nuclear weapons. And worst of all would be a scenario where what started out as a local war in Ukraine spiraled into an all-out global nuclear exchange between Russia and the United States . . . . Just war doctrine’s counsel to the United States and her NATO allies thus seems clear: Cheer Ukraine on and provide whatever assistance is possible consistent with avoiding the risk of a nuclear escalation. Otherwise, stay the hell out of it. Damon Linker seems to me to have the right idea: Putin’s actions must be unequivocally condemned and Ukraine supported, but Western policy should emphasize diplomacy, and work to create for Putin some feasible “off-ramp” from the path he has taken – rather than ratcheting up the rhetoric and entertaining reckless military scenarios and that can only make a nuclear confrontation more likely.
I guess that leads, hopefully to enough of a stalemate that Putin can be persuaded towards a settlement similar to Finland 1939/40. But it cannot be doubted that we are seeing destabilisation of the international order and a return to geostrategic confrontation, because just as in the post Vietnam 70's, the West and especially the US, weakened itself. The dirty politics leading to 4th gen low kinetic, agit prop and lawfare heavy civil war in the US has potentially deadly global consequences. KFkairosfocus_{March 9, 2022
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JVL, the problem here is, that would have been precisely the period for military service and what I have seen elsewhere puts his student days meeting with his wife significantly later. Secondly, this is a Zimbabwean paper, associating Putin with their current President in his guerilla training days, and they put Machel in the same context. I would expect cover stories and inconsistencies in the narratives about an intelligence officer. The timing is also right for the war against Portugal. So, for the moment I believe the Zimbabwean journalists and editors [who I know through personal contact would be very sensitive to get stories about their president "right"], and at the least it puts Russians in Africa where just as in Vietnam, they didn't ought to be. This story was drawn to my attention by people circulating a promotion of Putin as an enabler of liberation as they imagine it and I was able to find the report. KFkairosfocus_{March 9, 2022
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Just war theory and the Russo-Ukrainian war http://edwardfeser.blogspot.com/2022/03/just-war-theory-and-russo-ukrainian-war.html Long responses in the comment section from a Russian citizen with a passionate cry for Americans to have a greater understanding of the Russian side of things.Silver Asiatic_{March 9, 2022
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We good ,they bad. https://twitter.com/AlanRMacLeod/status/1498236545584697345Lieutenant Commander Data_{March 9, 2022
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Kairosfocus: Putin in Tanzania in 1973, as a trainer of guerilla leaders during the Soviet geostrategic push in Southern Africa, disguised as aid to liberation movements. When he was 21 years old and a student?
Putin studied law at the Leningrad State University named after Andrei Zhdanov (now Saint Petersburg State University) in 1970 and graduated in 1975
I agree that Putin is hideous but posting spurious speculation doesn't help.JVL_{March 9, 2022
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U/D, shortly to go up, Wiki's March 6 map. Notice the thrusts that go far beyond claims on the table as just seen. KFkairosfocus_{March 9, 2022
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F/N: Russian terms on offer: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/russia-will-stop-in-a-moment-if-ukraine-meets-terms-kremlin/ar-AAUJ7gH
LONDON (Reuters) -Russia has told Ukraine it is ready to halt military operations "in a moment" if Kyiv meets a list of conditions, the Kremlin spokesman said on Monday. Dmitry Peskov said Moscow was demanding that Ukraine cease military action, change its constitution to enshrine neutrality, acknowledge Crimea as Russian territory, and recognise the separatist republics of Donetsk and Lugansk as independent states. It was the most explicit Russian statement so far of the terms it wants to impose on Ukraine to halt what it calls its "special military operation", now in its 12th day. Peskov told Reuters in a telephone interview that Ukraine was aware of the conditions. "And they were told that all this can be stopped in a moment." There was no immediate reaction from the Ukrainian side. Russia has attacked Ukraine from the north, east and south, pounding cities including Kyiv, Kharkiv and the port of Mariupol. The invasion launched on Feb. 24, has caused the worst refugee crisis in Europe since World War Two, provoked outrage across the world, and led to heavy sanctions on Moscow. But the Kremlin spokesman insisted Russia was not seeking to make any further territorial claims on Ukraine and said it was "not true" that it was demanding Kyiv be handed over. "We really are finishing the demilitarisation of Ukraine. We will finish it. But the main thing is that Ukraine ceases its military action. They should stop their military action and then no one will shoot," he said. On the issue of neutrality, Peskov said: "They should make amendments to the constitution according to which Ukraine would reject any aims to enter any bloc." He added: "We have also spoken about how they should recognise that Crimea is Russian territory and that they need to recognise that Donetsk and Lugansk are independent states. And that’s it. It will stop in a moment." NEW TALKS The outlining of Russia's demands came as delegations from Russia and Ukraine prepared to meet on Monday for a third round of talks aimed at ending Russia’s war against Ukraine. It began soon after Putin recognised two breakaway regions of eastern Ukraine, where Russian-backed separatists have been fighting Ukrainian government forces since 2014, as independent - an action denounced as illegal by the West. "This is not us seizing Lugansk and Donetsk from Ukraine. Donetsk and Lugansk don’t want to be part of Ukraine. But it doesn’t mean they should be destroyed as a result," Peskov said. "For the rest. Ukraine is an independent state that will live as it wants, but under conditions of neutrality." He said all the demands have been formulated and handed over during the first two rounds of talks between Russian and Ukrainian delegations, which took place last week. "We hope that all this will go OK and they will react in a suitable way," Peskov said. Russia had been forced into taking decisive actions to force the demilitarisation of Ukraine, he said, rather than just recognising the independence of the breakaway regions. This was in order to protect the 3 million Russian-speaking population in these republics, who he said were being threatened by 100,000 Ukrainian troops. "We couldn’t just recognise them. What were we going to do with the 100,000 army that was standing at the border of Donetsk and Lugansk that could attack at any moment. They were being brought U.S. and British weapons all the time," he said. In the run-up to the Russian invasion, Ukraine repeatedly and emphatically denied Moscow's assertions that it was about to mount an offensive to take back the separatist regions by force. Peskov said the situation in Ukraine had posed a much greater threat to Russia’s security than it had in 2014, when Russia had also amassed 150,000 troops at its border with Ukraine, prompting fears of a Russian invasion, but had limited its action to the annexation of Crimea. "Since then the situation has worsened for us. In 2014, they began supplying weapons to Ukraine and preparing the army for NATO, bringing it in line with NATO standards," he said. "In the end what tipped the balance was the lives of these 3 million people in Donbass. We understood they would be attacked." Peskov said Russia had also had to act in the face of the threat it perceived from NATO, saying it was "only a matter of time" before the alliance placed missiles in Ukraine as it had in Poland and Romania. "We just understood we could not put up with this any more. We had to act," he said.
Evaluate in light of what has happened. KFkairosfocus_{March 9, 2022
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U/D, March 9, Putin in Tanzania in 1973, as a trainer of guerilla leaders during the Soviet geostrategic push in Southern Africa, disguised as aid to liberation movements. Thus, we may freely infer that he is a past master at disguising geostrategic pushes as aid to liberation struggles. This should be a factor in our evaluation of claims being made today. KFkairosfocus_{March 9, 2022
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WJM, no -- and not interested. KFkairosfocus_{March 9, 2022
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William J Murray: Is there even a war going on? https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1500175827161554946.html Incredible. I think I'll stick with the reporting of many, many news agencies and people from Ukraine.JVL_{March 9, 2022
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Are you a Freemason, KF? Is there even a war going on? https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1500175827161554946.htmlWilliam J Murray_{March 9, 2022
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WJM, the days of power games on raw geostrategics are over, it should be irrelevant that Ukraine is a key part of Mackinder's pivot area, which Russia seems determined to dominate regardless of the views of the people there, I just looked at a placard: we choose Europe not Russia, i.e. for all its flaws, the parts of Europe that moved on to democratic government over the recent decades since 1914 hold an attraction for Ukrainians. The breaking of the big European Empires after that war marked the transition to self determination of free peoples. The key ones were Russia, Austria and Germany. The Ottomans were in much longer term decline and apart from the Balkans, belong more to the history of the Middle East and North Africa, where true constitutional democracy has yet to emerge as a dominant force. KFkairosfocus_{March 9, 2022
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SA & Jerry, from one crisis to the next. That is how we are [mis-]led. KFkairosfocus_{March 9, 2022
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I checked msn.com news front page this morning - zero stories on Covid-19. Washington Post had one little story about vaccines for kids - out of 20 others on their front page.Silver Asiatic_{March 9, 2022
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Miraculous end to the virus!
Does Putin deserves a Nobel prize for ending Covid-19?
GummiBear nails it. https://twitter.com/gummibear737/status/1500971747423789061jerry_{March 9, 2022
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A blog dedicated to what’s happening as if anyone really knows. It’s a conservative blog so obviously has a bias. https://www.battleswarmblog.com/jerry_{March 9, 2022
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From an historian of Eastern Europe, an historical input on how valid Putin’s aspirations are.
Putin sees Ukrainian democracy as a threat, undermines his sense of the Russian mission, Stanford historian says To understand Russian President Vladimir Putin’s motivations to invade Ukraine, one must look at the long history of how Moscow has perceived the country. Russian historian Norman Naimark explains some of this complicated past Moscow’s obsession with Ukraine is not new: Since the 17th century, Ukraine has been an integral part of how Russian rulers have thought about their realm of power
https://news.stanford.edu/2022/03/02/putin-sees-ukrainiann-democracy-threat-undermines-russias-mission I graduated from Stanford and constantly get various articles from them. Usually I discount them because a lot are woke. But Stanford in its day had the best people. Some are still left and this author/historian is one of them.jerry_{March 9, 2022
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Putin isn't setting anything loose. He's destroying what was set loose long ago in the Ukraine by the deep state cartel. The Ukraine has been an entirely criminal enterprise run by the Khazarian mafia, disguised as a nation-state, for decades. That you don't know this, KF, makes me wonder about your level of information and/or motives here. The conflict between Russia and who's running the show in Ukraine goes back 2000 years, KF, not just back to 2014. Do you know how the Bolshevik Revolution is tied to current events, and to why Putin cannot allow the Ukraine to continue on its present course?William J Murray_{March 9, 2022
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LCD, the Ukraine war and various narratives have been ongoing since 2014. None of such can conceivably justify the profoundly destabilising campaign we see. Putin should realise what he is setting loose and that it will not end well. KFkairosfocus_{March 8, 2022
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Wow ,Oliver Stone's documentary about 2014 events have all the informations required to understand today actions: US politicians came in Ukraine and took the side of demonstrants and against the government of Ukraine . :lol: min: 44-48 Ukraine on Fire: The Real Story_Oliver Stone, 2016Lieutenant Commander Data_{March 8, 2022
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