Ukraine - Russia Conflict

If Finland's parliament approves, Putin will have another NATO country on his border. He'll piss and moan and threaten, my guess...but can't afford to pull another Ukraine. Also guessing that if Finland get's the go-ahead, the admission process will happen at record speed.

Finland announces it wants to join NATO
 
If Finland's parliament approves, Putin will have another NATO country on his border. He'll piss and moan and threaten, my guess...but can't afford to pull another Ukraine. Also guessing that if Finland get's the go-ahead, the admission process will happen at record speed.

Finland announces it wants to join NATO
This is a very good guess, since both Finland and Sweden (which also intends to join) already fulfill and even surpass some current member nations in all the criteria that have kept other countries in membership limbo for years.
 
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It's amazing. Putin had everything going his way. He was on the verge of having Europe dependent on his oil and gas that all he would have to do to get them to do his bidding was threaten to close the tap. NATO was turning into a shell of itself and he had considerable sympathy in the U.S. The classic Russian strategy of playing the long game was working quite well before he pissed it all away with one supremely bad decision. Amazing.
 
If Mother Russia has had a time in Ukraine, I am not seeing a great outcome for them in Poland:

Putin ally pushes Russia toward war with Poland

"At the same time, we're also quite certain that [Putin] will not do it now because he's too much occupied with what's happening in Ukraine," Jablonski added.


Also, Poland is a full member of NATO and there are a shitload of US troops there right now.
 
"At the same time, we're also quite certain that [Putin] will not do it now because he's too much occupied with what's happening in Ukraine," Jablonski added.


Also, Poland is a full member of NATO and there are a shitload of US troops there right now.
I read a British report today that estimates the Soviets lost 30% of it's ground forces in this offensive. That's pretty staggering, especially considering they've apparently not achieved any of their strategic objectives.
 
The obvious lack of progress of Russian forces, in itself, confirms the veracity of many of the Ukrainian claims. It’s right and proper to doubt claims made by combatants in war…the proof is in the progress or lack thereof. And what this war lacks are images of Russian victories ala NVA tanks in Saigon or Taliban BMPs rolling into Kabul. There’s nothing indicating any Russian success at all, just one bad day after another.
 
At this point, it looks to me like the Russians have lost the initiative and are just wallowing around trying to show Putin, or whomever, that they're doing something. Other than vague statements about "freeing" the Donbas there doesn't seem to be any real overarching strategy. I'm wondering what the over/under is on how long it takes for Putin to hang a "Mission Accomplished" banner and start making noises about shifting to a new phase...whatever that may be. Just a random thought, I'm old enough to remember that in the runup to the Six Day War we heard predictions from the press and pundits that the sheer weight of numbers and materiel would eventually result in Israel's defeat. Although this war has and will last a lot longer than that one, it does show how group think can creep in. General Patton is quoted as saying that "If everyone is thinking the same thing, someone isn't thinking." Sure seems like that was true in this case.
 
At this point, it looks to me like the Russians have lost the initiative and are just wallowing around trying to show Putin, or whomever, that they're doing something. Other than vague statements about "freeing" the Donbas there doesn't seem to be any real overarching strategy. I'm wondering what the over/under is on how long it takes for Putin to hang a "Mission Accomplished" banner and start making noises about shifting to a new phase...whatever that may be. Just a random thought, I'm old enough to remember that in the runup to the Six Day War we heard predictions from the press and pundits that the sheer weight of numbers and materiel would eventually result in Israel's defeat. Although this war has and will last a lot longer than that one, it does show how group think can creep in. General Patton is quoted as saying that "If everyone is thinking the same thing, someone isn't thinking." Sure seems like that was true in this case.
I'm with you all the way to the point of shifting to a 'new phase' in the sense you describe.

I'm more concerned that he'll be more willing to self-destruct than acquiesce with less than he promised his own people.

Zombiejew may smile; however that is still no basis for playing <choose your own nation> roulette with any noncombatants, foreign or domestic.

Cheers.
 
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