Russia Invades Ukraine. Again
POSTED BY: captaincrunch
UPDATED: Sunday, September 6, 2026 21:09
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A year after it invaded Ukraine, Russia is weakened and humiliated
The war has been catastrophic for both sides. But Putin’s “special military operation” has been a strategic disaster
By Ruth Deyermond, February 23, 2023
One year after Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, both countries and the rest of Europe have been transformed by the war. As at other great turning points in European history, this transformation is irreversible; there is no way to return to the world before February 2022, however the war ends. The future of European and global security will be shaped by how states and institutions address this fact.
The domestic and international effects on Russia have been profound and shocking. Already an authoritarian state, it has descended with frightening speed into something approaching totalitarianism, where military training is compulsory for schoolchildren, peaceful protest against the war is punished by 15 years in prison and TV pundits threaten Ukraine-supporting states with nuclear annihilation.
Since the start of the war, hundreds of thousands of people have fled the country in an exodus that has been compared to the wave of emigration after the 1917 Russian Revolution. Rich Russians have relocated to Dubai and other places where they can dodge the effects of sanctions. Large numbers of conscription-age men have sought refuge in other states of the former Soviet Union. Tens of thousands of workers in the IT sector are reported to have left, posing significant problems for the economy. It is unclear how many of these people—some of the most highly skilled and economically active Russian citizens—will ever return to their home country. The Kremlin needs them back but, unsurprisingly, has not been able to persuade them.
While the rich and educated have escaped, those in some of the poorest parts of society have not been so lucky. Mobilisation has disproportionately targeted men from Russia’s ethnic minority populations in regions far from Moscow and St Petersburg. In return, their families have been given frozen fish or bags of vegetables or, in one infamous case, packs of towels when soldiers have died. And the state is not the only organisation treating marginalised Russians with contempt. The Wagner mercenary group has recruited thousands of inmates from Russia’s prison system to act as little more than cannon fodder. Staggering numbers of them—reportedly up to 80 per cent of those deployed—have been killed, wounded or captured.
The UK government estimates that there have been 200,000 Russian casualties, 60,000 of them killed—four times more than the number of Soviet troops killed in a decade-long war in Afghanistan. Perhaps as startling as the numbers is the ratio of killed to wounded; observers have suggested that this is partly a result of inadequate medical support but also of poor unit cohesion, with soldiers unwilling to risk their own lives to save injured men.
It is hard to see how any of this can be sustained in the medium or long term, either organisationally or politically. Across Nato and the EU, policymakers and analysts are contemplating the prospects for Putin’s political survival, and who might replace him if discontent and infighting within elite circles grow. The possibility of a state collapse on the scale of the USSR’s dissolution in 1991 concerns many western policymakers, as was clear from President Macron’s recent comments on the need to avoid crushing Russia. A Soviet-style implosion seems unlikely, but the fact it is being discussed at all is a sign of how much expectations have changed over the last year.
The war has crushed Russia’s claims to anything like a sphere of influence in the post-Soviet space
All this is a consequence of Russia’s profound military failure in Ukraine. The damage to the armed forces’ reputation is hard to overstate; the war has been a disaster in every way imaginable. The humiliation of the first phase has been replaced with a war of attrition in which tiny gains are being presented as great victories, because
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If Russia wins, China is more likely to invade Taiwan because Putin has proved the world will not strongly and effectively resist countries being exterminated one by one, as China already has done to Tibet.
U.S. intelligence shows that China’s President Xi Jinping has instructed his country’s military to “be ready by 2027” to invade Taiwan though he may be currently harboring doubts about his ability to do so given Russia’s experience in its war with Ukraine, CIA Director William Burns said.
Burns, in a television interview that aired Sunday, stressed that the United States must take “very seriously” Xi’s desire to ultimately control Taiwan even if military conflict is not inevitable.
“We do know, as has been made public, that President Xi has instructed the PLA, the Chinese military leadership, to be ready by 2027 to invade Taiwan, but that doesn’t mean that he’s decided to invade in 2027 or any other year as well,” Burns told CBS’ “Face the Nation.”
“I think our judgment at least is that President Xi and his military leadership have doubts today about whether they could accomplish that invasion,” he said.
https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-taiwan-politics-united-state
s-government-eaf869eb617c6c356b2708607ed15759
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly
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The Chinese use two ways to describe Ukraine both of them both Traditional Chinese and the modern simplified Chinese character use the food measurement term 'grams' to spell out Ukraine, maybe it was know as a bread basket back then, as a nation I don't think the Japanese use these old hanzi / kanji characters and instead pronounce the country more phonetically using one of their four alphabets 'katana' just as Koreans use modern Hangul, some words translated have a deeper meaning and others used for their phonetic tone and sounds and do not provide any meaning. This usage is similar to that of the Japanese Katakana and Hiragana, in each countries description of old Ukraine they often refer to historical Kingdoms, or nation states or wars or Kievan Rus (Rus), Slavic culture, which formed the basis of Ukrainian and Russian identity as the center of East Slavic culture, invasions and Wars Rus Khaganstate, East Slavic, West Slavic. We used to have many skilled readers of Hanzi, Japanese China based characters Kanji, Hanja or Vietnamese based Chinese Chu-Nom characters on this site, posting and translating back in the early days, historic use of words and writing used throughout the Sinosphere moving as far as Singapore. Hindu Indian culture is old but the Republic of India as a Democracy is new, e Republic of India recognized Ukraine as a sovereign country in December 1991.
in news
‘No conditions for peace’: Russia reacts to China’s 12-point plan to end war
https://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/kremlin-on-china-plan-says-no-cond
itions-for-peace-at-the-moment-in-ukraine/hadibgj9n
The People's Republic of China's stance on Crimea is based upon its longstanding policy of noninterference in the domestic affairs of other nations. China sees the Crimean problem as an issue that should be solved within Ukraine. And thus, China argues that neither the involvement of Russia nor NATO is legitimate. In the United Nations, China abstained from condemning the referendum in Crimea as illegal. China does not recognize Russia's annexation of Crimea and recognizes Crimea as a part of Ukraine.
https://carnegieendowment.org/2015/04/01/explaining-china-s-position-o
n-crimea-referendum-pub-59600
,
https://thediplomat.com/2014/03/china-reacts-to-the-crimea-referendum/
The Indian government took a relatively balanced position on the situation in Ukraine. India in the past has not historically made supporting democracy abroad a central tenet of its foreign policy and said in its official statement that they would observe the situation in Ukraine and respect the decisions of both sides as long as they are peaceful. The Ministry of External Affairs asked its nationals, particularly students, to leave the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, effective from 29 May 2014, in eastern Ukraine which is witnessing frequent violent clashes and warned Indian travelers to be cautious and avoid non-essential travel in parts of eastern and southern Ukraine and to remain vigilant about their personal safety and security. According to officials, there were about 1,000 non-resident Indians living in the affected regions
https://web.archive.org/web/20150601151232/http://www.dw.de/indias-bal
ancing-act-in-crimea-crisis/a-17534847
'
http://www.firstpost.com/world/ukraine-crisis-india-asks-nationals-to-
leave-donetsk-lugansk-1550523.html
Russia-Ukraine conflict drives refugees into Lithuania
http://en.people.cn/n3/2023/0228/c90000-10213900.html
Italy's purchasing power halved since start of Russia-Ukraine crisis
https://english.news.cn/europe/20230228/03ba275ac8a9422a8f2ecb6e1b4445
21/c.html
Two dead in Russian drone attack in west Ukraine
https://www.thehindu.com/news/international/two-dead-in-russian-drone-
attack-in-west-ukraine/article66559974.ece
Russia's £274m A-50U Surveillance Aircraft 'blown Apart' By Pro-Kyiv Supporters In Belarus
https://www.republicworld.com/world-news/europe/russias-274m-a-50u-sur
veillance-aircraft-blown-apart-by-pro-kyiv-supporters-in-belarus-ar
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Putin’s former advisor was particularly critical of the Russian President’s decision to invade Ukraine last February. The day after the invasion, Pavlovsky told the Financial Times:
"He’s even more isolated than Stalin. In the last years of his life, Stalin didn’t come to the Kremlin and lived in his dacha, but the politburo came to see him and they talked and drank. Putin doesn’t have that. He’s as isolated as he can be. And in that situation rational issues become irrational."
He continued:
"Putin’s used to being lucky. That’s very dangerous for a gambler because he starts believing fate is on his side. When you play Russian roulette, you feel that God is on your side until the shot rings out."
In April 2022, Pavlovsky told RFE/RL's Georgian Service that Putin made a serious misjudgment, and his decision made 'no political sense'. He said:
"This is all Putin's own personal decision. Nobody other than Putin would have made it… Nobody, including myself, realized just how maniacally obsessed he must have been with Ukraine. We underestimated the extent of decay of the Russian government."
He continued that Putin 'stepped into a trap in Ukraine' and would find it hard to declare 'victory'. Pavlovsky also believed it was no longer 'unthinkable and impossible' that the conflict could 'spill into conventional warfare between Russia and the West, with NATO'.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/vladimir-putin-s-ex-advisor-who-s
aid-he-s-maniacally-obsessed-with-ukraine-dies-from-serious-illness/ar-AA180U4L
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly
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A concerted attack against the Crimean peninsula – isolating it, neutralising and inflicting severe damage against its military infrastructure by long range strikes – would be a major blow for Russian morale. In the absence of decisive battlefield success elsewhere, it would represent a defeat for Moscow that it could not disguise, and could lead to collapse of Russian forces in the field and even to Putin’s downfall.
But – as so often in this war – without boosting our support, it is unachievable. Even this more limited operation would demand massively increased Western assistance, including many more tanks than have been promised, much larger quantities of ammunition, as well as long-range missile systems which so far have not been provided at all. This additional support would have to be sustained and that would mean stepping up defence industrial production in the US and Europe beyond what has been contemplated so far in this war.
To achieve this is a question of political will on the Continent, one that remains shaky. There are signs now of European leaders pushing Zelensky towards peace talks with Russia rather than the defeat of Moscow’s invasion. That was the message delivered directly to the Ukrainian leader in Paris recently by President Emmanuel Macron and Chancellor Olaf Scholz. Both their countries have said they will not be providing new types of weapons this year. All talk at the moment is of future security assistance and guarantees to Ukraine from Nato after the war ends, as a means of pressuring Zelensky into an accommodation.
Putin recognises this wavering of Western support for Ukrainian offensive action and will be encouraged to press forward his own offensive to maximise territorial gains in advance of any potential negotiations. He is unlikely to achieve his full objectives on the battlefield, but neither will he willingly surrender what he now holds, which is significantly greater Ukrainian territory than when the war began.
With Ukraine denied the resources for decisive success, the scene would then be set for a period of relative quiet followed by the next round of Russian aggression. General Hodges’s plan for Crimea may be overly optimistic, but he is absolutely right to suggest that long-term peace is contingent on Russian battlefield defeat. The scenario that Nato leaders are now planning equals the vanquishment of the West and the emboldenment of both Russia and China. It is a crying shame when the possibility of a total Russian collapse remains within reach.
Colonel Richard Kemp is a former infantry commander
https://news.yahoo.com/total-russian-collapse-surprisingly-close-19000
0011.html
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly
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Everything you post is bullshit, SECOND. Putin is not a gambler and neither is the Russian Security Council. They have been building up their military since 2007 in preparation for western aggression.
And Ukraine is never going to retake Crimea.
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Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE someone poor - William Blake
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Quote:
Originally posted by second:Quote:The USA did NOT fund the color revolutions which Putin despises.
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
So, I take it you would be OK with Russia or China .... or Soros ... funding revolution in the USA?
BWAHAHAHAHA!!!
Jeezus, SECOND, do you think we're as stupid as you are?
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Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE someone poor - William Blake
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I'm surprised you missed this
Quote:desperate. You don't resort to pinprick drone attacks if you're winning on the battle field. Which Ukraine/NATO are not.
Mass Drone Attack Unleashes Chaos, Air Raid Sirens Inside Russia
...
Amid all the local reports coming out of Russia, there were in total possibly half-a-dozen to a dozen or more inbound drones which had been sent against various Russian cities overnight into Tuesday.
This comes after a past year which witnessed a number of sporadic drone and alleged sabotage attacks on sensitive Russian facilities, including military bases, as Ukraine and its backers grow moreemboldened.
Quote:
One December investigative report written by a US special forces veteran said the CIA was behind many of the covert sabotage operations happening with increasing frequency on Russian soil. President Putin has recently said he sees the conflict in Ukraine and West-backed proxy war there as a fight for the survival of the Russian people, alluding to it as an 'existential threat' in fresh comments.
MORE AT https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/mass-drone-attack-unleashes-cha
os-air-raid-sirens-inside-russia
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Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE someone poor - William Blake
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Quote:Why are you unaware that "leaders" who supported Putin are leaders until death? Kim in N Korea, Bashar al-Assad in Syria, the lifetime officeholder Ali Khamenei in Iran. Xi in China has set up a legal framework to be the next Chairman Mao who will die in office. All these men have killed people by thousands to hold on to jobs that, in more rational countries, will constantly be moving to new officeholders. And then there is Putin, who has threatened to destroy the world before he will step aside. Putin definitely intends to die in office.
Originally posted by SIGNYM:Quote:
Originally posted by second:Quote:The USA did NOT fund the color revolutions which Putin despises.
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
So, I take it you would be OK with Russia or China .... or Soros ... funding revolution in the USA?
BWAHAHAHAHA!!!
Jeezus, SECOND, do you think we're as stupid as you are?
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly
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Zelensky Hints At Withdrawing From Russian-Encircled Bakhmut: 'Out Of Options'
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/zelensky-hints-withdrawing-russ
ian-encircled-bakhmut-out-options
-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE someone poor - William Blake
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