Vlad seems to be reliving the Führer’s last days in the bunker.
- Took direct command of the army? Check
- Ordered no retreat by collapsing troops? Check
- Throwing untrained and under-equipped conscripts into the meat grinder in a desperate attempt to delay the inevitable? Check
- Delusional ravings about the degenerate West? Check
- Announced the annexation of lands he does not control and his army is in full retreat from? - OK, Hitler didn’t do that one. Vlad must have thought that up on his own.
Putin is no longer fighting to annex Ukraine. He is now fighting for his own survival. You can follow Kos and Mark Sumner’s accounts of Russia’s rapidly deteriorating position on the battlefield. Every passing day the Ukrainian army gets bigger, stronger, better trained, and better armed and the Russian army gets weaker, less equipped, and more demoralized. Now that Putin has declared an attack on Ukraine's own territory an attack on Russia there really is no longer any reason not to attack actual Russian territory. Just to be clear attack does not mean invade, it means bombing military targets. Something that Ukraine has already been doing. But as Putin considers defending parts of Ukraine equivalent to attacking Russia Western allies should not be squeamish about sending Ukraine long-range weapons.
As his army disintegrates under the Ukrainian assault, the Russian federation looks to be fraying, and the Russian economy is in free fall. Demonstrations, draft-age males fleeing over the border by the thousands, ethnic minorities in republics like Dagestan who have borne the brunt of the war on the verge of open rebellion. The Tsar is being openly criticized by allies and supporters (when they are not falling out of windows). Something that has never before happened.
Putin is a desperate man losing touch with reality as the walls close in. Turns out the self-styled strategic genius or should I say ‘very stable genius’ was an idiot way out of his depth. His bully act is no longer working, and he's got nothing else. No backup plan. No ability to think on his feet and adapt to reality. Not smart enough to come up with some way to save himself. He just keeps replaying his golden oldies hoping that if he just turns up the volume they will start working again. His mouthpieces in the media sound as desperate and confused as their boss.
Everyone now knows the emperors got no clothes. The only question now is how many more will have to die before Putin goes the way of Hitler and Mussolini?
