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Ukraine War: Vladimir Putin has gambled everything and lost
Atlantic Council ^ | February 27, 2022 | Alexander Motyl

Posted on 02/27/2022 10:40:15 AM PST by MinorityRepublican

Until Vladimir Putin lunched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in the early hours of February 24, he was winning his standoff with the West. He had compelled the United States and Europe to take his demands seriously; he experienced the pleasure of being treated as the leader of a great power; and he had succeeded in intimidating the Ukrainians as well as Russia’s other neighboring states and the wider world.

All he had to do to solidify his victory was to recognize the independence of the so-called separatist republics in the Donbas, acknowledge that Ukraine’s chances of joining NATO were nil, and continue his creeping subversion of Ukraine in the expectation that, sooner or later, it would drift back into Russia’s orbit.

And then he blew it all by invading Ukraine.

Overnight, Russia became a pariah state. The West has already imposed an expanding range of sanctions with more expected. International opinion has almost unanimously condemned Putin’s war of aggression, and thousands of his own citizens have expressed their opposition to the war in demonstrations and petitions.

Most importantly, Ukrainians have fought back, fiercely. This was something Putin probably did not expect. In his initial announcement of a “special military operation,” Putin called on Ukrainian soldiers to lay down their arms, not out of concern for their lives, but because he truly believed they would be happy to do so. But they weren’t and they didn’t. Instead, they have inflicted punishing losses on his invasion force and have inspired the watching world with their courage.

(Excerpt) Read more at atlanticcouncil.org ...


TOPICS: Editorial; Russia
KEYWORDS: alexandermotyl; atlanticcouncil
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1 posted on 02/27/2022 10:40:15 AM PST by MinorityRepublican
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To: MinorityRepublican

And now Putin is bringing in Belarus as a result.

https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/4042027/posts


2 posted on 02/27/2022 10:42:09 AM PST by marcusmaximus
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To: MinorityRepublican

Can we ban anything from The Atlantic?

P
R
O
P
A
G
A
N
D
A


3 posted on 02/27/2022 10:42:37 AM PST by Basket_of_Deplorables (Putin is behaving rationally. The war is on Biden and Obama.)
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To: MinorityRepublican

“Overnight, Russia became a pariah state. The West has already imposed an expanding range of sanctions with more expected. International opinion has almost unanimously condemned Putin’s war of aggression, and thousands of his own citizens have expressed their opposition to the war in demonstrations and petitions.”

Great summation.


4 posted on 02/27/2022 10:43:36 AM PST by rbmillerjr (Defeating China is impossible without understanding that Russia is our enemy)
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To: MinorityRepublican

This is still expanding and will spread into Europe.


5 posted on 02/27/2022 10:44:51 AM PST by aMorePerfectUnion (Fraud vitiates everything.)
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To: MinorityRepublican

Putin loves Biden...


6 posted on 02/27/2022 10:45:57 AM PST by rrrod (6)
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To: MinorityRepublican

LOL, it’s over...hooray!


7 posted on 02/27/2022 10:47:29 AM PST by EEGator
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To: Basket_of_Deplorables

Its not the Atlantic, its the Atlantic Council. Its a home of neocon, liberal, deep state globalists.

Read it to know what they are thinking


8 posted on 02/27/2022 10:48:27 AM PST by PGR88
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To: MinorityRepublican

Article author Alexander Motyl’s parents emigrated from Lviv, Ukraine.


9 posted on 02/27/2022 10:49:12 AM PST by MarvinStinson
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To: MinorityRepublican

Putin did screw the pooch big time. Any “victory” will be pyrrhic. He’ll now be a parish at home and abroad. And ibstead of rebuilding the old “evil empire” he just did something thought impossible, revive NATO and get NATO members to fund their obligations at a higher rate. Revived economic hardship on the Russian people.

Way to go for the legacy. What a screwup.


10 posted on 02/27/2022 10:49:57 AM PST by BiglyCommentary
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To: Basket_of_Deplorables

“Can we ban anything from The Atlantic?

P
R
O
P
A
G
A
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D
A”

LOL, agree. All we know at this point is that Putin is closing in on Ukraine’s cities. The rest is idiotic and likely dangerous speculation, as it may be badly underestimating him.


11 posted on 02/27/2022 10:50:58 AM PST by BobL (I eat at McDonald's and shop at Walmart, I just don't tell anyone.)
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To: MinorityRepublican

Seeing report that the EU is sending lots of weapons to Ukraine.

Ukraine will run out of women to use them soon. EU isn’t serious until it sends soldiers.


12 posted on 02/27/2022 10:54:34 AM PST by SaxxonWoods (The only way to secure your own future is to create it yourself.)
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To: BobL
All we know at this point is that Putin is closing in on Ukraine’s cities.

That's what we're being told by the people that continually lie to us, anyway ...
13 posted on 02/27/2022 10:54:57 AM PST by bankwalker (Repeal the 19th ...)
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To: MinorityRepublican

This crowd is clueless and stupid. Afflicted badly with neocon disease.


14 posted on 02/27/2022 10:55:59 AM PST by DarthVader (Not by speeches & majority decisions will the great issues of the day be decided but by Blood & Iron)
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To: MinorityRepublican
Footage just released of a 9K37-series (Could be M1-2/M2/M3) Buk SAM TELAR being destroyed by a Ukrainian Bayraktar TB2, likely with a MAM-L munition in Malina, #Zhitomyr.

Ukrainian Bayraktar Drone Strike

15 posted on 02/27/2022 10:56:04 AM PST by tlozo
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To: tlozo

https://twitter.com/i/status/1498003016082931712


16 posted on 02/27/2022 10:56:40 AM PST by tlozo
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To: bankwalker

“That’s what we’re being told by the people that continually lie to us, anyway ...”

True, I got information for Daily Mail...but since Daily Mail is massively anti-Russia, I tend to believe them on this.


17 posted on 02/27/2022 10:56:50 AM PST by BobL (I eat at McDonald's and shop at Walmart, I just don't tell anyone.)
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To: Basket_of_Deplorables

You can’t be that dopey…. First off, we can’t ‘ban’ or can’t ‘buy’? Second, this is from The Atlantic Council, not THE ATLANTIC. Third, when you resort to poetic typography to make your point, know you’ve already lost your argument. And last, and most importantly… it seems that almost all Ukraine positive news is met with howls of “bunk”, “propaganda”, and “the media lies”. Okay, yes, we all know the media lies. But what are you suggesting? Russia is winning easily? Putin is succeeding? In the absence of the presentation of an alternative narrative, I am going to have to give current reports some credibility. At present, I don’t think the media knows how to spin this.


18 posted on 02/27/2022 10:58:35 AM PST by Toad of Toad Hall (time is short and getting shorter)
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To: PGR88

“Read it to know what they are thinking”

They think they will prevail through information saturation. It’s thick, and thicker than any we have ever experienced before.

Every western outlet, 24hrs per day.

And most of it is bullshit.

But the condensed meme is that the valiant and intrepid Ukrainians have managed to fight off, and will eventually defeat an assaulting army of baby eaters and puppy killers 10X their size. As a result the head baby eater and puppy killer will be deposed by the very few realists and reasonable men of his country.

We’ll know in a week.

Not sooner.

It’s apparent Russia isn’t even competing on the information battlefield. They have ceded that battle to far superior forces.


19 posted on 02/27/2022 10:59:24 AM PST by Mariner (War criminal #18)
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To: MinorityRepublican
Yep. Putin was wining BIG time and then tossed it all away with that last roll. D’oh!

Now is the time to pay the House and walk away before he loses BIG time.

His luck has turned against him and it’s time to quit.

There’s no winning left on the table for him now.

20 posted on 02/27/2022 10:59:59 AM PST by GBA (Endeavor to persevere)
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