Which is exactly why a macho thug like Putin won’t back down.
If Putin is set on perusing USSR irredentism, won’t he be in the same dilemma as Brezhnev?
Maintenance costs of a nuclear arsenal, mobile missile launchers, subs, tank park, etc.
A population starved of consumer goods, housing and healthcare. (Granted, in the old days that was bottlenecked by Gosplan. That’s now gone from Russia, and never was in the West… where we’re starved of affordable housing and healthcare).
…and the sign language interpreter keeps on keepin’ on…
The tension just keeps mounting.
We’re also being starved of consumer goods by supply chain woes. We’re not quite at breadlines, but wait times for products are longer and whole sections of stock are often out. Not for the same reasons as Soviet supply issues, of course.
I predict we crumble two weeks after the avocados run out.
We may not be able to get certain goods - but at least we don’t have to stand in endless lines to not get them.
(Unless it is Black Friday, or tickets to some concert…)
Never mind.
That’s not where it comes from. It started picking up the definite article in English when it wasn’t a nation-state, and Ukraine was usually referred to as a region, the way you say “the Maritimes.”
“The Maritimes” is a collective noun.
I’m wondering how Putin would feel if the Ukraine decided to treat him like he does his political enemies. Maybe come down with a case of radioactive food poisoning.
The world should treat him like a war criminal and be done with it. Ban his travel to European cities, impound his wealth etc…
So is the origin or Ukraine
Most historians and linguists agree that the name Ukraine comes from the Slavic ukraina , meaning “borderlands.” Since many countries whose names derive from a geographical feature or factor have a definite article—“the Philippines” referring to the Philippine islands, “the Netherlands” meaning “the lowlands”— the Ukraine makes sense in terms of “ the borderlands.”
Putin could attack Ukraine on Feb. 16, Biden told allies
Fortunately, that was wrong. So either U.S. intelligence lied to hide how much it knows, or, more likley, they don’t really know Russia’s plan.
The CIA, which I presume is the source of Biden’s information, does not have an outstanding track record in solving the riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma of Russian government intentions. And predicting any major invasion is extremely difficult because it is going to be a closely held secret. So there still is reason to hope that no major Russian invasion is at hand (although a smaller conflict is still tragic).
I suspect Putin is trying to convince the west that a large-scale invasion is coming so that something smaller will be treated as close to acceptable. Tomorrow, maybe I will be proven wrong. Obviously, I hope not.
Do you understand what “could” means?
Putin could attack Ukraine on almost any day, except maybe when Russia is having some large-scale maneuvers far away.
I hypothesize that my quote unquote intelligence community, at great taxpayer expense, gave Biden a most likely major attack date of February 16. Biden passed that on to the world, including Amercan taxpayers like myself, for which I thank him.
He’d be a fool to not take whatever prediction he was given and make it sound less certain. So, yes, I think I understand the word could.
Apparently not.
Or, if the intelligence was accurate, as soon at the planned date was announced Putin changed his plans.
A story that deserves far more attention than it’s gotten:
The Russian-backed separatist leaders of Donetsk and Luhansk provinces in Ukraine have ordered a civilian evacuation.
They ordered 700,000 women and children to leave their homes and be bused to Russia, where camps have been set up.
This is all being done based on false Russian claims that the Ukrainians plan an offensive there. Presumably, it’s the setup for a false-flag attack, which will be the pretext for the coming invasion.
Think for a moment what it means to try to force 700,000 people out of their settled lives and make them refugees. Think of the elderly with their infirmities. Doctors and others with vital jobs. Those with pets.
A photo in the New York Times shows some of these refugees now in Russia, living on crammed-together army bunk beds in Quonset huts.
This is how Russian-backed separatist leaders – in coordination with the Kremlin – are treating Russian-speaking civilians in Ukraine. This is how far they’re willing to go.
My best guess is that Putin is planning for a limited attack on Eastern Ukraine and using the possibility of a larger invasion as way to pressure Ukraine and limit their defensive options.
I am skeptical that a full invasion is imminent because
a)It’s a bad idea from Russia’s long-term perspective and possibly Putin’s as well and I think Putin is still mostly a rational figure
b)They don’t seem to have enough troops ready for a full invasion given Ukraine’s military strength
c)As discussed above, the spring thaw will make a full invasion really difficult; if that was the plan it would have been carried out 1-2 months earlier.
That’s not its name in English.
This news report has a map showing all of the locations where Russian troops are positioned. I feel so awful for the people of Ukraine. I’d be terrified.
700,000 new tax payers, some of them doctors.