The only thing I may be wrong about ...

Heh. Well, um, actually, there are a very many things that I may be wrong about. But, everyone who's anyone around here already knows that, so ...

Putin may very well have had total domination of Ukraine on his mind. But, that doesn't mean that it was ever a realistic outcome. That's all I'm saying.

The only thing I may be wrong about has to do with my assertion that this stupid war could have been avoided if the US was not so dead set on welcoming a nation just a few hundred miles away from Moscow into the western NATO alliance. Unfortunately, Biden made sure we would never find out.

And, whatever outcome does finally emerge, Ukraine will probably not the better for it.

Biden's push for NATO expansion to include Ukraine will go down in history as wrong-headed, too. The plan to give Ukraine just enough support to prolong this stupid and destructive war also won't win him any medals.

um...

you are as monumentally wrong about vladimir putin as you were unequivocally right about joe biden. i was completely mistaken about both, as were many americans.

mea culpa. biden has been as competent a president and party leader as anyone dared hope, while putin has been even more rabidly expansionist than anyone feared. sure, there are legitimate reasons underlying the war, but they're mere pretext. if you seriously believe that putin had anything short of total domination of ukraine on his mind, you're deluding yourself.

JL

There may still be people who think Russia wanted to take all of Ukraine or even the northeast but that was never a realistic outcome and I don’t think Putin ever imagined that … for very long, at least. It just didn’t make any sense, militarily or otherwise. Not that anything about this war makes any sense.

Um, Putin DID expect to roll through to Kiev. Otherwise the military wouldn't have included so many security forces (that specialize in controlling the population of newly conquered territory) in the initial waves.

Are you aware that the Ukrainians made Russia think their big push was happening in Kherson and the Rooskies pulled troops out of (relatively quiet) Kharkov to reinforce Kherson?

Heh.

So yeah, Kherson hasn't been liberated yet, although Ukraine has made (less dramatic) progress there while simultaneously kicking butt in the northeast.

No one thinks the big push by Ukraine was happening in Kherson - no one who is paying attention to what is actually happening there, anyways. Even the Ukrainian military says it won’t be ready to push there for several weeks yet. That may be too late.

Kherson is the gateway to Crimea so I wouldn't expect a miracle there by Ukrainian forces.

There may still be people who think Russia wanted to take all of Ukraine or even the northeast but that was never a realistic outcome and I don’t think Putin ever imagined that … for very long, at least. It just didn’t make any sense, militarily or otherwise. Not that anything about this war makes any sense.

It also seems that Russia is grabbing people off the streets in Luhansk and Donelson (the two breakaway republics) and pressing them involuntarily into service. Russia doesn't care about them any more than they do about non-Orthodox Russians from Siberia.

No way the douchebag shows his face down here unless the Repugs take the House and start up their big Hunter Biden investigation.

IMO, the Senate is safe Dem and as it stands the House is a toss up at worse.

Remember how 81 million Muricans voted for Joe Effing Biden in order to get rid of Trump? And that was BEFORE January 6th, Dobbs and we haven't even heard about Repugs in Congress and their legal exposure.

A Blue Tsunami is considerably more likely than than any Red Wave.

"Seriously... someone at the Democratic National Committee should have sent him a bouquet of flowers or at least a fruit basket just to say: "Thanks!"

I really think the fruit basket is more appropriate for #LadyGraham.

I am evil."

I wonder if Michale is going to cry like a baby when the Republicans fair so miserably in the midterms yet again, like he tried to taunt libs and Democrats a while back with his comment and failed so badly at doing so? I predict Democrats will pick up at least 2 Senate seats, and hold the Republicans to near a draw in the House, with the slimmest of majorities for either side in the House. No red wave at all.

1.) Russia has YET to build a real aircraft carrier. It's attempts so far have all been failures, with ships having multiple fires, break downs, scrapped or sold to other nations like India. The best it has been able to manage, but never complete or keep in service, is a cross between a cruiser and a carrier, a much smaller ship where planes must use a jump ramp to take off. Nothing like the huge nuclear powered behemoths America puts to sea.

2.) The Russian army that fled in Ukraine, leaving weapons and supplies behind, has neither the will nor discipline to fight a determined well trained Western supplied military.

3.) The Russian army is made up mostly of paid mercenaries. They are not a true professional volunteer force like the American army, nor are they a conscripted, drafted force from the general population. They are contract soldiers who sign up for a specific time, with promises of pay beyond the average Russian civilian salary, and bonuses if they renew their contract. They are poorly trained and riddled with corruption. Russian soldiers have been known to sell their rifles for food, while top military officials embezzle money that's supposed to pay for equipment that only exists on paper.

4.) Another reason the Russian military does so poorly is that its members are subject to brutal hazing by fellow soldiers, and constantly engage in alcohol and drug abuse. Things that would never be tolerated in the "woke" American military. So much for Republican criticism about being "woke" when there is a real life contrast in performance right before their eyes in the real world.

5.) The only "real" threat are Russian chemical and nuclear weapons, not their conventional military ability on the battlefield. This makes them both weak, but even more dangerous, like a bully with a bomb.

6.) China on the other hand, just launched a full sized aircraft carrier that, unlike the Russians, uses the same catapult launch system that American carriers do. China currently has 3 total, the U.S. has 10, soon to be 11 total. Russia has only ONE, of the type mentioned before.

Are you aware that the Ukrainians made Russia think their big push was happening in Kherson and the Rooskies pulled troops out of (relatively quiet) Kharkov to reinforce Kherson?

So yeah, Kherson hasn't been liberated yet, although Ukraine has made (less dramatic) progress there while simultaneously kicking butt in the northeast.

I really think the fruit basket is more appropriate for #LadyGraham.

I am evil.

I will do so, if it comes to pass!

I just get cynical, after all the games with Manchin and Sinema, I guess...

-CW

"Kherson" in the south... originally I put "Kharkiv"... we regret the error...

-CW

You might also give the majority leader a MIDOTW award for this example of good leadership, too. Just sayin'...

Wow. Just WOW!

Music to my ears. :-)

Well, the death of Queen Elizabeth II is an important news story and Great Britain is a very important US friend and ally nowadays so, no, I don't think it is too much at all.

The all-important counter-offensive in Kherson that Ukraine and the media have been touting for quite some time now and that needs to happen has not yet occurred.