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Each day, President Zelenskiy reads my book on military history. I hope he heeds these warnings - The signs are good. Ukraine’s leader is avoiding the mistakes of the second world war – while Putin shows every sign of repeating them
The Guardian ^ | 10 February 2023 | Laurence Rees

Posted on 02/10/2023 10:07:23 PM PST by Cronos

...consciously or unconsciously, Zelenskiy has already learned much of what this history has to offer, whereas Vladimir Putin has demonstrably not.

1. leave strategy to your most talented generals. This is a warning Joseph Stalin did not heed. At the start of 1942, and despite having no military training, he ordered a major offensive against the German army around Kharkiv in Ukraine. More than 250,000 Red Army soldiers were lost as a result of the disastrous Kharkov operation. It was a defeat that was all the more humiliating because the Red Army had outnumbered the Germans on the battlefield.

Putin, a year ago, was similarly overconfident when the Russians invaded Ukraine. Zelenskiy has left the military decisions to his generals.

2. overpromising in war can have catastrophic consequences. In September 1942, Adolf Hitler made a speech in which he “assured” the German people that “no one can take us away” from Stalingrad. Putin is in a similar position. He keeps reassuring the Russian population that the Ukrainians are about to be crushed. But does anyone now believe him? Zelenskiy has taken the opposite approach. If anything, he downplays Ukrainian successes and sets no specific timetable for military action.

3. make sure you are clear just what constitutes victory. Hitler failed to do this. He never said how much territory his army had to conquer in the Soviet Union before “victory” was won. The result was that German soldiers were always unsure what goal they had to achieve in order to bring the war to an end.

Putin is just as vague about what victory looks like for the Russian army in the current conflict. Is it simply holding on to the territory they’ve seized so far? Is it overthrowing the current Ukrainian regime? Who can tell?

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


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Russia
KEYWORDS: atruecasusbelli; demilitarizingnafo; demilitarizingnato; foreigner; joewantsaworldwar; laurencerees; natodemilitarized; polishneocon; pushuntilthenukesfly; thegrauniad; theliarsofthewest; ukrainedemilitarized; zelviswantsaworldwar
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To: Salohcin

And the eventual destruction of the country which used to be Germany. Had Paris been wiser in 1918, it would have maintained (at least to a certain degree) the autonomy Alsace-Lorraine had been granted seven years before by Berlin.

Still, taking the present-day problems of the erstwhile victors of the World Wars into account, it seems as if they were having their share of bad luck, too. Race relations, wokeism, the whole enchilada of evil which neo-Bolshevism is flinging at the Western world.

And I’m saying this with no satisfaction at all, but with utter sadness, since the victims of this won’t be the power elites, but - as nearly always in history - the unlucky average Toms, Dicks and Harrys.


21 posted on 02/11/2023 2:52:06 AM PST by Menes
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To: lightman

22 posted on 02/11/2023 4:16:18 AM PST by Travis McGee (EnemiesForeignAndDomestic.com)
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To: Cronos
This is a great article! History may not necessarily repeat itself but if often rhymes!

Thanks for posting!

23 posted on 02/11/2023 4:23:32 AM PST by Timber Rattler ("To hold a pen is to be at war." --Voltaire)
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To: ransomnote
Zelensky has rejected consistent advice from the Pentagon and others to pull back to preserve troops.

And how do you know that? Wishcasting much?

24 posted on 02/11/2023 4:24:45 AM PST by Timber Rattler ("To hold a pen is to be at war." --Voltaire)
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To: All

If the Russians thought there was one damned good thing in Russia, they’d worry about bettering Russia, it’s economy and its people.


25 posted on 02/11/2023 4:25:44 AM PST by rbmillerjr (Defeating China is impossible without understanding that Russia is our enemy)
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To: Chad C. Mulligan
Professionals think logistics.

So how well are the Russians faring on that?

26 posted on 02/11/2023 4:26:08 AM PST by Timber Rattler ("To hold a pen is to be at war." --Voltaire)
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To: nwrep

It is the dumbest thing I have read in the last 10 minutes. Wait until this evening. The Zeepers will post many bigger dumbs every 5 minutes.


27 posted on 02/11/2023 4:30:50 AM PST by dforest
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To: MalPearce

That’s a pretty danged good analogy!


28 posted on 02/11/2023 4:37:08 AM PST by Timber Rattler ("To hold a pen is to be at war." --Voltaire)
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To: rbmillerjr

Russia appears to be doing quite well. We are the ones destroying our people and our culture as we watch the economy tank. We have people shooting up dope and crapping in the streets in cities all over America. A crumbling infrastructure that we have paid trillions to supposedly “fix” in fraud bills our Congress has passed with nothing to show for it.

And we worry about Ukraine? And we think our way is just great?

Our sovereignty is gone and we have 3rd world elections and trillions in debt.

Perhaps some people need to take at look at themselves before they criticize others countries.


29 posted on 02/11/2023 4:42:23 AM PST by dforest
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To: Cronos

Good article

Putin is EXACTLY like Hitler ...

- micro-managing the war
- refuses to visit the front
- blaming minorities for his own failures
- paranoid and hates people
- delusions of his own greatness
- addicted to warmongering, can’t stop even when it would benefit his country

... and he’ll probably wind up like Hitler too ...


30 posted on 02/11/2023 4:53:06 AM PST by canuck_conservative (12th month, no end in sight)
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To: dforest

Yet, Putin has dragged the dynamic Russian people into the comparisons of economic powerhouse Iran. Makes alliance with Iran and needs Iranian mercs and weapons to fight Ukraine.

Nothing to see in Russia...all is well.


31 posted on 02/11/2023 4:54:28 AM PST by rbmillerjr (Defeating China is impossible without understanding that Russia is our enemy)
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To: rbmillerjr

Change the subject instead of actually responding. I wasn’t talking about Russian foreign policy and neither was your post I responded to.


32 posted on 02/11/2023 5:00:30 AM PST by dforest
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To: dforest

Actually, the subject of the thread is that Putin’s egregious actions could drag us into WWIII. So, who changed the subject?

You did. Then you state Russia is doing well. It’s not.


33 posted on 02/11/2023 5:17:27 AM PST by rbmillerjr (Defeating China is impossible without understanding that Russia is our enemy)
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To: lightman
Distinctive Catholic teachings that are not manifest in the only wholly God-inspired, substantive, authoritative record of what the NT church believed (which is Scripture, in particular Acts through Revelation, which best shows how the NT church understood the gospels) are to rejected insomuch as anyone holds to them.

Meanwhile, Putin, who outlaws any sharing of faith by anyone others than the RO and what it says, and is a dictator over a country which itself abounds with corruption, abortion, alcoholism etc. with very low church attendance, hardly makes a moral case for invading Ukraine, but both need to reject Western liberalism, which is a greater threat to both.

34 posted on 02/11/2023 5:24:16 AM PST by daniel1212 (Turn to the Lord Jesus as a damned+destitute sinner, trust Him who saves, be baptized + follow Him!)
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To: lightman

Wow. They are fighting a war based on medieval grudges?


35 posted on 02/11/2023 5:26:17 AM PST by Vermont Lt
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To: Vermont Lt

Interesting. It sees you have to kill people over there to rule. Saddam did in Iraq. Is the US any different? We’re on a slippery slope.


36 posted on 02/11/2023 5:36:48 AM PST by DIRTYSECRET
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To: ransomnote
Zelensky has rejected consistent advice from the Pentagon and others to pull back to preserve troops.

The only time I heard about the Ukrainians ignoring US advice was the advance into Kherson. It appears they understood the facts on the ground better than we did.

37 posted on 02/11/2023 12:39:38 PM PST by pierrem15 ("Massacrez-les, car le seigneur connait les siens" )
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To: webheart
Russia can produce more dead bodies than Ukraine can.

Depends on the ratio. If Ukraine kills about 5 Russian soldiers for every 1 Ukrainian, they win. Since Russia keeps using poorly trained troops against mined, fortified Ukrainian positions that are also zeroed in by Ukrainian artillery, it not hard to reach & even surpass that ratio.

38 posted on 02/11/2023 12:43:43 PM PST by pierrem15 ("Massacrez-les, car le seigneur connait les siens" )
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To: Salohcin

No problem at all. The arithmetic remains the same. Despite the defense put up by the Finns they were eventually overwhelmed by fatigue and numbers. Only in this present scenario it may take a little longer.
I have no sympathy for either side but I do admire the Ukrainians spirited defense.


39 posted on 02/26/2023 5:20:05 AM PST by gdzla (Tyrannis Seditio, Obsequium Deo)
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