Ukraine Stands, Fights, and Wins

[Celerity]

The war in Ukraine is far from over, but the Ukrainians have inflicted an immense loss on the Russians. There is a lesson here for all of us about how to deal with extremism in any form.

https://www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/archive/2022/09/ukraine-stands-fights-and-wins/671418/

https://archive.ph/P0mQw



Contain and Defeat

Last weekend was full of grief and glory. Queen Elizabeth II died, and like many Americans, I felt the pang of loss. The Queen, a seemingly eternal part of our world, was a stalwart ally of the United States, and a model of dignity and duty. But while focusing on the mourning and pageantry, we might have lost track of another potentially world-changing story in Ukraine. The Ukrainians, using a combination of clever strategy, military fortitude, and Western weapons, have routed the Russians from a series of positions around Kharkiv.

These were not merely defeats; the Russians were abandoning their posts and leaving behind their equipment even before the Ukrainians could reach them. Apparently, Russian soldiers do not want to die for President Vladimir Putin’s pathetic dream of reestablishing a state that had already perished before some of them were even born. This is an immense humiliation for the Russians and for Putin personally, and Russian pundits are already yelling at one another in panic on state television. The Russian state’s newspaper of record, Rossiskaya Gazeta, is, as the analyst Mark Galeotti noted, stammering and contradicting itself trying to wave away yet another Russian military disaster.

Link to tweet

So what happens next? In some quarters, we might expect calls for the Ukrainians to negotiate. But to what end? As my Atlantic colleague Anne Applebaum wrote, there’s nothing to discuss. Putin “has put the destruction of Ukraine at the very center of his foreign and domestic policies, and at the heart of what he wants his legacy to be.” Negotiation, from the first day of the war, was impossible. The only answer was to stand and fight, which the Ukrainians have done with valor and tenacity.

There is a lesson for all of us here as we face the global attack on democracy. Americans, generally, are the products of a legalistic, free-market, democratic society, so we prize negotiation and dealmaking. We think almost any problem is amenable to rational discussion and good-faith exchanges. Each side gives something and gets something. But what if the person across the table has no interest in compromise?

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[OAITW r.2.0]

1. I think we are in the endgame.

Russia loses all of it's territorial gains since 2014.

The world is with Ukraine and the collapse of the Russian "invasion" is over.

Only question remaining....will the people in power around Putin allow him to unleash biological/nuclear weapons? I wish I understood who are the players behind Putin....

[AllyCat]

3. I sincerely hope this is not the case

About the biological weapons and nuclear strikes. I’m hopeful that won’t come to pass as even the Russian office holders and some media types are suggesting Pootie was wrong about this.

[Brother Buzz]

2. The Russian conscripts are fighting Ukrainian Citizen Soldiers....

with skin in the game.

The end game for Ukraine is to drive Russia out, out, out; negotiations is NOT on the table, Baby!

[Chainfire]

4. · "The morale is to the physical as 3 to 1." - Napoleon Bonaparte.