One additional piece of information bears looking at;
This was a HUGE embarrassment for Trump. He raged that he didn’t know in advance.
Zelensky showed Trump that he not only had the cards but he had stacked the deck in Ukraines favour. His composure in the White House while Trump and his goons mocked him speaks volumes more now.
The self-discipline (poker face) shown to not stick it to Trump was immense.
There is NO reason for Ukraine to share intel with the US. The US cannot be trusted on any level. Ukraine is not a member of NATO, or any other coalitions (that I know of) and is breaking no rules.
Trump already broke the US’s Budapest Memorandum with Ukraine, they owe the USA NOTHING.
Now, in the future, the smartest thing Zelensky could do is “accidentally” share false intel with the US. If Russia acts on it, Trump outs himself once more as a Russian collaborator in a more obvious way.
Absolutely. AgentOrangeKrasnov only regtets he couldn’t scurry to his master and sell Ukraine down the river. Dearest Ukrainians, do continue to hold your cards very close to your chest, and feel free to tell him and Vova to f’off. Your cause is just, and may you achieve the blessing of a lasting and honorable peace. Slava Ukraini i Glory AFU!
Putin totally underestimated the Ukraine and its people to hold the line and to use a modern Trojan Horse. While he plotted his evil to be the 21st C Tzar, the Ukrainian people had no warning for what has been one long war crime. Putin could have been a leader for the ages if he had spent the capital on lifting his own people out of the 19th C, modernizing industry, building infrastructure beyond Moscow where desperate lives are lived without plumbing or adequate food and housing. The lives of their sons were spent as fodder. The worst of criminals were pardoned and given uniforms and now have come back, war-damaged and at large. He will be remembered by history but as the worst of despots. His helicopter nearly got hit by drones. He can hide but he can no longer feel so confident of his easy win, nor does he have a reliable ally. Hitler took the fatal pill rather than face the music. Putin has no where in the world to run if his inner circle turns.
At least for the foreseeable future, Putin's inner circle won't turn on him, in my opinion. Their positions depend on him. In fact, Russia's current state of unity depends on him. He has no heir presumptive, neither one to whom he's given his blessing, nor anyone able to hold it all together should Putin be forcibly removed.
No matter how frustrated Putin's subordinates might be, waiting for him to die, no matter how they might dream of taking his place, Putin is smart enough not to put idiots into leadership positions, but too paranoid to bring someone into his inner circle with enough intelligence, charisma and ambition to displace him.
Putin's lifelong dream has been to recreate the Russian Empire. He sees himself as a modern Ivan Grozhny (Ivan the Terrible) or Peter the Great. The problem with both those rulers, though, is that no matter what they did to expand Russia, neither of them had an effective successor. Neither does Putin. He's held Russia together with an iron fist for a quarter-century and more, but when he dies - and after the cancer, he knows he's going to die - his dream will die with him. Without an effective successor, some of the provincial governors who have been getting restless as Putin ages are likely to break away. Some members of his Moscow inner circle may do the same. Russia will almost certainly balkanize more than the USSR did when the Communists fell when Putin dies, unless the elusive successor capable of holding what Putin has gripped so hard suddenly appears out of the blue.
Agreed, Meg. The Russian psyche is devoid of hope. They believe life is brutal and hard and one has to be equal to it to survive. Putin was the poster boy the KGB presented but his nature, background and ambition showed through. The old boys who have clung to power and ferreted away wealth will play their deadly game of dispatching “difficulties”, the same way that Solzhenitsyn wrote about. Why the ^$$&*&! Navalny returned …. ? …He may have turned the Russian submarine from the iceberg but they will not let his widow rise to power. When Putin goes, the amount of debt will be staggering, oil or no oil. Putin wants the Ukraine for its arable land, its milder climate, its ports and its rare minerals. Those pesky Ukrainians failed to fold in the first week of attack and not after three years of killing non combatants and destroying infrastructure has their courage faltered. Their languages may be similar but they are a vastly different people.
Agreed, Meg. He was picked as a poster boy but his KGB training and his own ambition showed his true colours. The Russian psyche is devoid of hope. They learn early that life is hard and brutal and only the hard and brutal survive. Why the @@#^& Navalny returned is beyond comprehension. He MAY have turned the Russian submarine before it hit the iceberg. We will never know.. His widow is courageous but the old boys cling to power and wealth they’ve ferreted away.
One additional piece of information bears looking at;
This was a HUGE embarrassment for Trump. He raged that he didn’t know in advance.
Zelensky showed Trump that he not only had the cards but he had stacked the deck in Ukraines favour. His composure in the White House while Trump and his goons mocked him speaks volumes more now.
The self-discipline (poker face) shown to not stick it to Trump was immense.
There is NO reason for Ukraine to share intel with the US. The US cannot be trusted on any level. Ukraine is not a member of NATO, or any other coalitions (that I know of) and is breaking no rules.
Trump already broke the US’s Budapest Memorandum with Ukraine, they owe the USA NOTHING.
Now, in the future, the smartest thing Zelensky could do is “accidentally” share false intel with the US. If Russia acts on it, Trump outs himself once more as a Russian collaborator in a more obvious way.
Absolutely. AgentOrangeKrasnov only regtets he couldn’t scurry to his master and sell Ukraine down the river. Dearest Ukrainians, do continue to hold your cards very close to your chest, and feel free to tell him and Vova to f’off. Your cause is just, and may you achieve the blessing of a lasting and honorable peace. Slava Ukraini i Glory AFU!
Masterclass indeed. Excellent piece, Wayne,
Putin totally underestimated the Ukraine and its people to hold the line and to use a modern Trojan Horse. While he plotted his evil to be the 21st C Tzar, the Ukrainian people had no warning for what has been one long war crime. Putin could have been a leader for the ages if he had spent the capital on lifting his own people out of the 19th C, modernizing industry, building infrastructure beyond Moscow where desperate lives are lived without plumbing or adequate food and housing. The lives of their sons were spent as fodder. The worst of criminals were pardoned and given uniforms and now have come back, war-damaged and at large. He will be remembered by history but as the worst of despots. His helicopter nearly got hit by drones. He can hide but he can no longer feel so confident of his easy win, nor does he have a reliable ally. Hitler took the fatal pill rather than face the music. Putin has no where in the world to run if his inner circle turns.
At least for the foreseeable future, Putin's inner circle won't turn on him, in my opinion. Their positions depend on him. In fact, Russia's current state of unity depends on him. He has no heir presumptive, neither one to whom he's given his blessing, nor anyone able to hold it all together should Putin be forcibly removed.
No matter how frustrated Putin's subordinates might be, waiting for him to die, no matter how they might dream of taking his place, Putin is smart enough not to put idiots into leadership positions, but too paranoid to bring someone into his inner circle with enough intelligence, charisma and ambition to displace him.
Putin's lifelong dream has been to recreate the Russian Empire. He sees himself as a modern Ivan Grozhny (Ivan the Terrible) or Peter the Great. The problem with both those rulers, though, is that no matter what they did to expand Russia, neither of them had an effective successor. Neither does Putin. He's held Russia together with an iron fist for a quarter-century and more, but when he dies - and after the cancer, he knows he's going to die - his dream will die with him. Without an effective successor, some of the provincial governors who have been getting restless as Putin ages are likely to break away. Some members of his Moscow inner circle may do the same. Russia will almost certainly balkanize more than the USSR did when the Communists fell when Putin dies, unless the elusive successor capable of holding what Putin has gripped so hard suddenly appears out of the blue.
Agreed, Meg. The Russian psyche is devoid of hope. They believe life is brutal and hard and one has to be equal to it to survive. Putin was the poster boy the KGB presented but his nature, background and ambition showed through. The old boys who have clung to power and ferreted away wealth will play their deadly game of dispatching “difficulties”, the same way that Solzhenitsyn wrote about. Why the ^$$&*&! Navalny returned …. ? …He may have turned the Russian submarine from the iceberg but they will not let his widow rise to power. When Putin goes, the amount of debt will be staggering, oil or no oil. Putin wants the Ukraine for its arable land, its milder climate, its ports and its rare minerals. Those pesky Ukrainians failed to fold in the first week of attack and not after three years of killing non combatants and destroying infrastructure has their courage faltered. Their languages may be similar but they are a vastly different people.
Agreed, Meg. He was picked as a poster boy but his KGB training and his own ambition showed his true colours. The Russian psyche is devoid of hope. They learn early that life is hard and brutal and only the hard and brutal survive. Why the @@#^& Navalny returned is beyond comprehension. He MAY have turned the Russian submarine before it hit the iceberg. We will never know.. His widow is courageous but the old boys cling to power and wealth they’ve ferreted away.
An excellent summary - it does not bother me if it long or broken into parts. Thank you for doing this.