Posted on 03/19/2022 7:18:33 AM PDT by Skywise
As Russia's brutal invasion of Ukraine grinds on into its fourth week, the physical war rages in the cities and countryside, while an information war is waged over the airwaves and on the internet and social media.
On the actual battlefield, the Russian offensive has undoubtedly slowed over the past week. But what is being described as a 'stalled' takeover may be the result of the Russians taking time to reorganize their forces and improve their logistics.
On the Western side of the information war, we were told from the opening days of the conflict that the Russian military would break due to high casualties and defections, loss of tanks, armored vehicles, artillery and aircraft, and domestic opposition.
Videos of Russian battlefield setbacks abound in the media, and strangely there is little reporting on Ukrainian losses.
And yet, over three weeks into the war, Vladimir Putin remains president and the Russian war machine has not collapsed but in fact continues its plodding, imperfect, and messy advance.
Ukraine certainly has won the war on social media and in the press. This gives the average Western viewer the impression of a lopsided victory in favor of Ukraine.
Additionally, the Pentagon has taken the unprecedented step of conducting daily briefings on the war, even though the U.S. is not at war.
The Pentagon assessments often track closely with assessments given by the Ukrainian government.
This is not a condemnation of the West's use of information and disinformation.
These tactics play a role in the management of conflicts. But the West should not delude itself into believing that the Ukrainians will be saved by wishful thinking.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
By taking Ukraine Putin is adding four NATO nations to its borders.
Poland is in NATO.
So three times in a 150 years
Depends if he considers Ukraine “Russia” or a giant dividing line.
There’s also the fear he won’t stop at Ukraine.
NATO obligations are only covering unprovoked aggression. Poland is getting cocky regarding this conflict.
The only news hear is that anyone would need a military expert to tell them that propaganda does not = miltary victories - it just feel-good BS for mass self-gaslighting.
:-)
Exactly. This whole mess is an ugly throw down between two jerks who don’t care how many of their people die, just so long as they have personal power.
Like they took A’stan.
Russia can take a lot of punishment—America, not so much. So much of what we see is just good, old fashioned propaganda. “One Ukraine Hero-Soldier can beat Ten Russian poorly trained Russian conscripts” Little by little, Russia will grind the opposition down until all of Ukraine is in Ruins. Turning Putin into this weeks Hitler is a poor idea because we will need to work with him in the future. Hoping that the Russians will depose him is wishful thinking. Threatening Russia will only make them cling to him more.
I was listening to a streaming radio show few days ago when I woke up in the a.m. The host (local never heard of him) sounded reasonable until he discussed WWIII. He said we are in it already and we need to fight Russia. Said not to worry about nukes, we have to stop the killing of hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians, even if it means direct war between US & Russia. I turned it off.
I was listening to a streaming radio show few days ago when I woke up in the a.m. The host (local never heard of him) sounded reasonable until he discussed WWIII. He said we are in it already and we need to fight Russia. Said not to worry about nukes, we have to stop the killing of hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians, even if it means direct war between US & Russia. I turned it off.
There is no “information war.”
The corporate gaslight media is owned by the globalists, and the globalists want an end to all nation-states.
They have succeeded taking down the United States.
Russia is the last nation-state standing in the way of their glonsl totalitarian dictatorship.
Back in January, Russia rejected U.S. proposals that would permit Ukraine only a limited form of NATO membership(if Ukraine was in fact ever admitted), with no missiles and only a limited troop presence. After the invasion, Russia said that Ukraine had to have strict neutrality, and could not enter into alliances with anyone in the West, either bilaterally or multilateral my. It also demanded regime change and "denazification" of Ukraine.
Russia has since abandoned both of those demands. They have now announced they are not requiring regime change, and that Ukraine can have other bilateral/multilateral alliances as long as it isn't NATO.
That's a much bigger concession by Russia than is Ukraine giving up the prospect of "NATO" membership at some point in the indefinite future. If Ukraine can get enter into a self-defense pact with other European countries and the U.S. as long as it isn't called "NATO", that gives them what they wanted anyway.
The two wars with Chechnya proved that Russia is not as willing to endure high casualties as some may believe.
1) I am not at all sure that he has actually succeeded in pushing NATO "back". Ukraine is not a member of NATO, and was not going to become one unless and until the situations with Donbass and Crimea were resolved, and a stable border recognized. NATObership.for Ukraine was still just theoretical at the time of the invasion.
In terms of actual NATO, Putin's invasion has reinvigorated the alliance and led it to the deploy even more forces in the countries nearest to Russia itself. Germany has just voted for a significant increase in defense spending, which cannot be something Putin would see as desirable. The same is likely to happen among many other members of NATO, and the US likely will increase military assistance to members of NATO in Eastern Europe.
So, in exchange for possibly getting a promise that Ukraine won't join NATO specifically, Russia has turned NATO itself into a much more dangerous Alliance than it was previously.
In terms of economics, I question whether Russia's attempt to extract resources from a hostile Ukraine can make up for the economic harm it will suffer moving forward. Even if formal economic sanctions are reduced, private businesses in the EU, U.S., and other nations will inevitably reduce trade relations and investments simply because Russia will no longer be viewed as a stable economic partner. Public sentiment likely will still be anti Russia for a very long time after this war ends, and there will be social media campaigns for disinvestment, etc..
Maybe the public is dumb, easily misled, or has succumbed to propaganda. But that won't matter when businesses decide that Russia just isn't worth the outcry.
“This nonsensical narrative being pushed by the media that UKraine is winning this war is laughable. No wonder people believe Biden won…”
I’ve not seen ANY narrative that Ukraine is winning the war. However, in an invasion, if there is a stalemate, in general the victor is the defender, simply because the invasion has not succeeded.
“Add Poland to that list.”
If he attacks Poland, then it is game on.
” But the Kalingrad cauldron is going to split polish forces.”
Kaliningrad is Putin’s ace in the hole.
“Biden is not really on Ukraine’s side. I believe he/his handlers were very upset on Day 2 when Zelensky turned down the evacuation offer. That was not supposed to happen. They did not want a fired-up Ukraine mounting more than a “Resistance Symbolique”.
I can’t disagree with that.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.