Here's an escalation for you. Belarus is preparing to join the war by sending troops into Ukraine in support of Russia.
Yes, Belarus is Russia's puppet, but turning this from a two nation war into one with three is big.
Q "Why do you like Duke, you didn't even go there." A "Because my art school didn't have a basketball team."
It looks an awful lot like growing desperation, to be honest. Belarus's military is somewhere between one fifth and one tenth the size of Ukraine's, for example, and its economy is roughly on par with that of Maine.
On the one hand, it's an encouraging sign that Russia is having a much harder time than expected with its invasion, but on the other, it could be a distressing harbinger of rising frustration and thus brutality and erratic behavior by Russian forces and leaders.
I think the possibility of American boots on the ground in Ukraine would have complicated things domestically. Rather than focusing on what America can do and is doing, focus would be on would we send troops, for how long, how would Russia respond etc.
Agree with your other points.
SoCal
The first moment that any NATO aligned troop sets foot on Ukrainian soil is the moment that the entire world goes to war. That's not hyperbole, that's not an understatement. Life as we know it instantly changes.
As much as it sucks right now for Ukraine, when other nations, including us, face that choice, the options while distasteful, become clearer.
Q "Why do you like Duke, you didn't even go there." A "Because my art school didn't have a basketball team."
A couple of Garks break with Putin:https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/28/busin...ska/index.html
May there be many more.
Historically Russia struggles so much to project power. To put it in basketball terms, Russia is much better at zone than then the full-court Press. The Russian military can be a big, lumbering Beast. They have so much land to protect and have a natural two front problem bordering Europe and Asia. The Japanese are nodding right now. Russia picked a fight with them in the early 20th century and Japan absolutely kicked their...butt.
As formidable as they are as in nuclear power Russia was basically 1 for Century in 20th century Wars.
Nor did I say you did; I was merely adding historical context to the discussion.
Though I should also point out that Russia was a member of the winning coalition in both World Wars (to be fair, a rather large technicality in WWI, although one could argue that Russia's holding the line along the Eastern Front was a major contributing factor to the Allied Powers' victory in the West).
Last edited by wilson; 02-28-2022 at 01:02 PM.
Russia banned from the World Cup: https://www.espn.com/soccer/uefa-eur...raine-invasion
While this may not seem like a big deal, it is a huge deal for Russian fans (which is basically the whole country of Russia).
Russia still had a great opportunity to qualify. That is no longer the case.
I cannot think of another time when a country was outright banned from the World Cup. And if it does exist, they don't have a top 50 squad (which Russia does).
Criticism may not be agreeable, but it is necessary. It fulfils the same function as pain in the human body. It calls attention to an unhealthy state of things. - Winston Churchill
President of the "Nolan Smith Should Have His Jersey in The Rafters" Club