Even the guy reporting this is astounded that the Russians never switched off the power. Any theories on why not?
You need to consult with the FR mind-reading team.
They have been practicing with their remote viewing, dowsing, witches brew and Ouija boards—and they can tell you exactly what Putin is thinking every second.
;-)
“Even the guy reporting this is astounded that the Russians never switched off the power. Any theories on why not?”
Russian mobile comms are pretty poor, so they likely need local power.
I got the impression that power is needed to keep the radioactive parts of a nuclear power plant cool and safe. I doubt Putin has any desire to seize a nuclear wasteland, or have all that radioactivity blowing over Russia. Also, some power control areas may be difficult for them to destroy with taking serious losses themselves.
So far as suggesting a significant part of Taiwan’s population is OK with coming under Chinese Communist authoritarian rule, I have no doubt they are watching just how well Hong Kong is being treated.
On comparing Ukraine with Afghanistan. Ukraine has a relatively uniform population speaking either Ukraine or Russian language, or being bilingual in these two related languages. Afghanistan has a number of distinct tribal areas speaking distinct languages, and also having historic animosities and conflicts. Afghanistan has a number of powerful and successful warlords who have no doubt made their accommodations with the Taliban. Russia was very cruel to the Afghan population and if they tried another invasion would no doubt be far more severely treated than the US army was. Very few analogies between them.