I live in Texas, so I understand that can happen without the Russians pulling stupid stunts on the other side of the globe. Heck, it can happen in summer here. I’m not that impressed by their hardship, but I do sympathize. Neither of our houses are being shelled or targeted by missiles, so in comparison it’s a manageable threat.
Yep, and the only blame to be laid is on Putin. Frankly, at the current time I personally benefit from US weapons being proved effective and Russian weapons being proved less so. I’m not super happy about the circumstances that led to that situation, but here we are. Putin is the best salesman for western weapons that god ever wrought.
So, a bit off topic: I’m making some customized tee shirts to send to Ukrainian troops (there is a guy who handles such donations.) Would it be bad taste to have a photo of the Kremlin with “Capture the Kremlin” in Ukrainian? Or some Putin Nazi memes?
Not if they keep locking down entire cities of millions of people for one or two covid cases in a vain quest for “zero-covid”.
Not if their house-of-cards real estate industry collapses, which it is showing signs of doing.
Not to mention all disruptions to their agriculture from climate change and the odd earthquake.
OK, they’ll have cheap energy - that’s not the only thing a nation needs.
Arguably, Europe should have been spending more on the military rather than depending quite so heavily on the US’s umbrella of influence. In the long run that might be a good thing for Europe.
The remarkable thing about this is that the critical voices are being tolerated by Russian authorities. This could be either encouraging or alarming.
Optimistic interpretation: The Kremlin is afraid of the Russian far right, and can’t crack down without risking an acceleration in instability. Putin’s authority is being undermined. If he’s replaced, it will almost certainly be by someone worse, but at least he’ll be out and there will be a breathing space in the transition. But after that, all bets are off.
Pessimistic interpretation: Putin needs these voices to be raised in order to justify a major escalation in troop mobilization and an unrestrained effort to simply annihilate Ukraine from border to border.
There’s an interesting article on Ukrinform by General Valeriy Zaluzhnyi (Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine) and Lieutenant General Mykhailo Zabrodskyi (First Deputy Chairman of the National Security, Defense, and Intelligence Committee of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine).
Covers a wide range of topics but highlights the importance of western military support, likely Russian goals, and that the war will continue into the near future at least.
How does that work for the people in the villages? Would much change in day to day life? Get up, make breakfast, go to work? The soldiers on the streets are different. It would take time to switch the city officials. Fire chief, Police chief are specialists.
For starters, the people in the villages worry a whole lot less about the soldier-on-civilian violence and harassment that the Russian soldiers have become notorious for.
As an ignorant American I needed to convert 700 square kilometers to get a feel for it. A circle with a little over 9 mile radius. (9.2 something I think. 270 square miles.)