Preface: What follows is not meant to minimize the suffering of the Ukrainian people. There's plenty of them who have been killed, wounded or displaced by Putin's aggression. Instead, it's an exploration of the way the news media has colored the truth for maximum emotional effect.
This was a fascinating thread on Twitter. In it, an average Joe chronicles his visit to Poland and Ukraine during the ongoing war. He gives you a view from a slightly wider lens angle than what we're seeing in the news media.
We're getting played, big time. Here's a tidbit.
This is precisely what you would expect in a war between two countries with small, dysfunctional militaries.
When the Soviets took Berlin in 1945, they lost 500,000 guys doing it against a German army that was in ruins. 500,000 is just the number of casualties they took and it's about 10x the total of what Russia has to take Kiev. The Soviets had state-of-the art tanks. Modern Russian vehicles are garbage. Bill Roggio, who I respect, thinks that in the end, Ukraine will fall. I'm not so sure, but either outcome wouldn't surprise me. Here's what the Institute for the Study of War thinks as of yesterday.
Russian forces around Kyiv did not attempt to renew offensive operations on a multi-battalion scale on March 10 following the failure of limited efforts on March 8-9. Ukrainian forces badly damaged a Russian armored column in the Brovary area east of Kyiv, likely further disrupting Russian efforts to set conditions for offensive operations on the east bank of the Dnipro. Ukrainian resistance all along the Russian lines of communication from eastern Kyiv to the Russian border near Sumy continues to disrupt Russian efforts to bring more combat power to bear near the capital. The episodic, limited, and largely unsuccessful Russian offensive operations around Kyiv increasingly support the Ukrainian General Staff’s repeated assessments that Russia lacks the combat power near the capital to launch successful offensive operations on a large scale.
It's a bum fight.
More Theater
A while back, I worked for an organization that would react to terror threat warnings. When THREATCON OCELOT* was declared, it was because they had "credible information**" suggesting there might be a terror attack. The building that housed the bigwigs was protected by yellow "Do Not Cross" tape and no cars could be parked in front of it. Our building, which held only very small wigs, was completely unprotected. We used to joke that when the Jihadists drove their explosives-packed van into our compound, they would be deterred by the yellow tape and blow up our building instead. It was all theater.
Now dig this photo.
I don't recall what this is. Some Very Important Building in Ukraine. Whatever. Dig the flag, flying defiantly, proudly in the face of Russian aggression. Also, note the lack of shell and bullet damage anywhere. After reading through the thread linked above, you just know that a block away, everything is completely normal. After all, who's going to fill all those sandbags all over the city? Where are they going to get the sand or the bags in the first place?
Where Are The Russian Bombers?
When the Nazis took the Low Countries in 1940, they smashed Rotterdam with waves of He-111 bombers. Late in the war, we were flattening German and Japanese cities with hundreds of bombers in each raid. The Russian Air Force (VKS) has been largely silent. Why is this?
It's silent because the VKS is a fraud.
A final factor to consider is the relatively low number of flying hours that VKS pilots receive each year relative to most of their Western counterparts. While accurate numbers across each unit are hard to find, periodic Russian official statements suggest an average of 100–120 hours per year across the VKS as a whole.
100 hours per year with no modern flight simulators as backup means that the VKS dudes can take off and land without crashing, but not much else. You can send them on a simple bombing mission in groups no larger than 4, but you're not going to overwhelm an enemy air defense system and blow it apart if you can't get 100 or so combat aircraft up in the air at the same time.
This is a bum fight. We're getting played.
Meanwhile, our sanctions are turning Russia into a Chinese vassal state. Is that a win? Maybe. Russia is such a toad that anyone who aligns with them might be worse off afterwards. Finally, there's this.
Saudi Arabia, UAE leaders not returning Biden's calls, disappointed with US - report
The two Mideast countries are disappointed with the Iran nuclear deal, as well as the American response to Houthi terrorist attacks in recent weeks.
Those same dudes talked to Putin, though.
This is what happens when you have a leadership class that thinks other cultures consist of nothing more than hairstyles, fashions, food and music.
* - I think it was OCELOT. It might have been a color. CHARTREUSE, perhaps.
** - No, they didn't.
