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How Ukraine’s offensive changes the equation for Putin and Zelensky
Washington post ^ | 12 September 2022 | David Ignatius

Posted on 09/12/2022 8:58:48 PM PDT by Cronos

...The initial assault toward Kherson in the south wasn’t a feint. It was a major strategic thrust that might yet push Russian troops back from the western bank of the Dnieper River. But deftly, the Ukrainians also moved in the Kharkiv region in the northeast while the Russians were asleep there. They didn’t rush the advance; they softened up Russian lines and then, last week, burst through in a devastating assault that put Russia in pell-mell retreat and regained more than 1,100 square miles of territory.

..Vladimir Putin. He is the loser in this latest round, but he is also the man who cannot be seen to lose

...Putin’s problem now is that all those television watchers in Moscow and St. Petersburg can see that the Russian leader’s non-war is a total mess. His strongest backers on the Telegram channel, and even some commentators on state television, are saying that Russian forces have suffered a severe defeat. The finger-pointing has begun in earnest, and the daggers are out for Gen. Valery Gerasimov, Russia’s chief of staff, and Sergei Shoigu, the defense minister.

But not yet for Putin, and probably not ever. That’s the beauty of the system he has created. There is no one to succeed him, almost literally. If he keeled over tomorrow, Russia’s interim leader would be Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, a former head of the Russian Taxation Service. Have you ever heard of him? Of course not. That’s the point.

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Russia
KEYWORDS: allsorosallthetime; bidenwarpimpsonfr; compost; davidfagnatius; davidignatius; deadrussianhomos; frteamsoros; globalistpropaganda; letsgojoe; notamericaswar; notglobalcops; putin; putinswar; russia; russianhomos; russiansuicide; teambiden; teamsoros; ukraine; ukraineisnotinnato; ukraineisnotrussia; waposuckers
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The war was started by Putin. It is purely about Putin's ego.
1 posted on 09/12/2022 8:58:48 PM PDT by Cronos
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To: Cronos

The war was started by the globalists. It’s a stupid war. When the US wanted Ukraine to join NATO, that was the red line Putin said not to cross. Putin didn’t start it, but Biden/Zelensky helped start it.


2 posted on 09/12/2022 9:01:40 PM PDT by BipolarBob (Isn't it ironic that only ONE company makes the game MONOPOLY?)
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To: Cronos

Ukraine also recaptured nearly 200 square miles in the southern region of Kherson in recent days, in an offensive that aimed to cut off thousands of Russian soldiers stationed west of the Dnipro River in territory that Russia claimed in the initial stages of its invasion.


3 posted on 09/12/2022 9:01:40 PM PDT by Cronos
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To: BipolarBob

The war was started by Putin.

In 2008 Georgia and Ukraine requested to join NATO.

They were refused as Germany and France thought it would antagonize Russia.

6 weeks after being refused, Georgia was invaded by Russia.

6 years later Ukraine was invaded by Russia.

It was always Ukraine who wanted to join NATO, for the same reason Estonia did, to prevent Russia invading.


4 posted on 09/12/2022 9:04:13 PM PDT by Cronos
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To: Cronos

“… It is purely about Putin’s ego.”
************************************

Objectively I think it was more about Russian and Ukrainian nationalisms along with the greed, miscalculations and mismanagement of Biden and his puppet masters.


5 posted on 09/12/2022 9:05:12 PM PDT by House Atreides (I’m now ULTRA-MAGA-PRO-MAX!)
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To: BipolarBob

The only reason Ukraine ever has any interest in joining NATO was for fear of Russia attacking them—-again—like they are now. And now, thanks to Putin, there’s a very good chance Finland will also join NATO.

You know what would have been reasonable? For Russia to leave its neighbors in peace and continue building economic ties making conflict with them costly to everyone. The ties that had built up since the fall of the USSR had done more for Russian security and all their military spending combined, and Putin flushed it all away.


6 posted on 09/12/2022 9:08:03 PM PDT by Cronos
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To: BipolarBob

“Putin’s red line”

You keep talking about Russia’s right to demand security on its borders (meaning they all have to be puppet states of Russia)..

What about Ukraine’s right to not be invaded?

Russia is like the thug who beats his wife to a pulp for not making his dinner right, then looks down on her quivering in a corner, bruised and bloody, and says to her “See what you made me do?”

NATO is a defensive alliance, so Russia is telling its neighbors “you have no right to band together to defend yourselves…” And then it is also saying “if you do, Russia will attack you, so don’t defend yourself because there’s no need…”

Ukraine is the proof that NATO is vital for anyone near Russia and as a direct result of its invasion you have Finland and Sweden joining NATO


7 posted on 09/12/2022 9:10:51 PM PDT by Cronos
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To: House Atreides

Putin started it, but only because Biden basically gave him the green light.
His defeat in Afghanistan and his message to Putin before the conflict basically told Putin go ahead, we will do nothing.
Then, after the conflict started, Biden changed his mind.
Very stupid.


8 posted on 09/12/2022 9:12:06 PM PDT by AZJeep
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Comment #9 Removed by Moderator

To: House Atreides

It wasn’t about Russian or Ukrainian nationalists. Not in 2014, not this year.


10 posted on 09/12/2022 9:14:50 PM PDT by Cronos
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To: Cronos

Well if David Ignatius says it’s true who am I to question him.


11 posted on 09/12/2022 9:15:04 PM PDT by McGruff (Don't underestimate Joe's ability to f*** things up - Barack Obama)
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To: Cronos
Summary

Thank you for reading today’s Ukraine live blog. We will have more updates tomorrow. It is nearly 1am in Ukraine here’s what has happened in the ongoing conflict today.

Since the beginning of September, Ukrainian forces have taken back 2,400 square miles of Russian-held territory, Reuters reports.

Russian troops have left behind stockpiles of ammunition and other supplies following Ukraine’s days long counteroffensive in Kharkiv Oblast, the Kyiv Independent reports.

The United States assesses that Russia has largely ceded its gains near Kharkiv and many retreating Russian soldiers have exited Ukraine, moving over the border back into Russia, a senior US military official said on Monday, Reuters reports.

The Ukrainian authorities have said they are capturing so many prisoners of war among Russian soldiers retreating from occupation of the north-eastern region that the country is running out of space to put them, the Associated Press reports.

The military command of the Russian federation has stopped sending new units into Ukraine following a dramatic Ukrainian counter-offensive that has reshaped the war and left Moscow reeling, the general staff of the armed forces of Ukraine said Monday.

Municipal deputies from 18 districts of Moscow and St Petersburg have signed a public statement demanding that Vladimir Putin resign. “We, the municipal deputies of Russia, believe that the actions of President Vladimir Putin harm the future of Russia and its citizens.”

12 posted on 09/12/2022 9:16:17 PM PDT by Berlin_Freeper
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To: Cronos

This battle is resembling the Battle of Stalingrad. Once again a sizable. poorly supplied Russian force with its backs against a river barrier is being hard pressed. These troops, said to be some of Russia’s best, have no reliable means to withdraw across the Dnieper river. At Stalingrad the Russians closed a pincer and surrounded the Germans causing over 90,000 Germans to surrender. Do the Russians have the forces to again close a trap on the attacking Ukrainians or this time is it the Russians who surrender en masse? The outcome of this battle will determine who wins this useless war.


13 posted on 09/12/2022 9:18:08 PM PDT by allendale
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To: BipolarBob

Sweden and Finland are joining NATO so where is your stupid Russian war against them?


14 posted on 09/12/2022 9:18:19 PM PDT by Berlin_Freeper
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To: Cronos

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/2/24/putins-speech-declaring-war-on-ukraine-translated-excerpts


15 posted on 09/12/2022 9:19:31 PM PDT by Brian Griffin
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To: House Atreides
Objectively Insanely I think it was more about Russian and Ukrainian nationalisms along with the greed, miscalculations and mismanagement of Biden and his puppet masters.
Fixed it for you.
16 posted on 09/12/2022 9:20:34 PM PDT by Berlin_Freeper
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To: Cronos

[1943]

“Zhukov countered that the Germans would be drawn into a trap where their armoured power would be destroyed, thus creating the conditions for a major Soviet counteroffensive”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Kursk


17 posted on 09/12/2022 9:21:34 PM PDT by Brian Griffin
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To: Cronos

“It wasn’t about Russian or Ukrainian nationalists. Not in 2014, not this year.”
*********************************************************************

Well, perhaps it was Polish nationalism in your mind or, much more certain, perhaps you simply need to brush up on Eastern European history of the past couple of centuries.


18 posted on 09/12/2022 9:26:25 PM PDT by House Atreides (I’m now ULTRA-MAGA-PRO-MAX!)
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To: Berlin_Freeper

Dude, you’re an embarrassment to most American expats in Germany.


19 posted on 09/12/2022 9:28:41 PM PDT by House Atreides (I’m now ULTRA-MAGA-PRO-MAX!)
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To: allendale

https://militaryhistorynow.com/2021/01/15/battlefield-stalingrad-four-maps-that-tell-the-story-of-world-war-twos-pivotal-struggle/


20 posted on 09/12/2022 9:28:50 PM PDT by Brian Griffin
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