Surovikin Brings Syria To Ukraine As Russia Targets Power Grid
Russian Air Force General Sergei Surovikin is living up to his dubious reputation.
Weeks on from an appointment as commander of Vladimir Putin's "special operation" in Ukraine, Surovikin is running the Syria playbook. Ukrainian officials on Saturday implored the West for better air defenses after Surovikin again targeted civilian infrastructure in an apparent bid to knock out the country's electricity with winter approaching.
Surovikin, whose ruthless campaign in Syria earned him the nickname
War criminals. If Russia did not have nukes, they would be in the nato crosshairs right now.
Yes.
But I feel compelled to add that the US (and, to a degree, the West) would have greater moral standing if the US had not invaded Iraq… Or, having done so, had trialed GWB, Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld for war crimes.
The fact that we preferred to simply forget about them is understandable from a political expediency pov but does help sell the narrative that “all sides do it”…
Who is “we”? Nobody forgot about them. We’re still making feature films about it (e.g., Vice).
Also, Volodymyr Zelensky isn’t exactly Saddam Hussein.
More importantly, though, it’s a non sequitur. This is right out of the Kremlin propaganda playbook. What does Iraq have to do with Ukraine? Nothing. Not a single thing in the world. Libya doesn’t have anything to do with Ukraine either.
If the US were to embark on another misbegotten military adventure next month, nobody (or at least nobody who frequents these pages) would cite Ukraine as an excuse. Because that wouldn’t make any sense if there was no connection to Ukraine.
Look at the UK’s behavior in the colonial era. Not great. Not great at all. Does that mean Russia can commit war crimes in Ukraine and say “Look, the UK behaved very poorly in its colonies”?
We is the West as a global society and mostly the US. And I’d argue they’ve mostly been ignored (certainly rather than punished). Making documentaries about them doesn’t change the dynamics. It treats them as already part of History while they could have been jailed a few years ago…
It’s not that Iraq justifies invading Ukraine. It’s that it justifies playing Empire. Or at least allows the pro-Russian propaganda you decry. Remember, a kernel of truth helps sell narratives.
FWIW, I agree it makes no sense. Playing Empire is so last century and so very likely to blow up in your face. But we have a few leaders who apparently can’t think of anything else to do to liven up their remaining years/decade on Earth…
I’m afraid we are just delaying the inevitable, at some point NATO troops will have to get involved, probably in response to Russian actions, the alliance should seriously consider arming Ukraine with enough power to punch Putin in the mouth and strike inside of Russia. If escalation of the war seems unavoidable let it happen under NATO’s terms and tactics.
AFAICT, there’s no need to strike deep inside Russia. Raids across the border to attack supply depots, airbases, missile launching areas or R&R facilities maybe but nothing more is needed.
The suffering of the civilian population first in Syria and now in Ukraine is unfathomable. Unconditional victory seems the only acceptable option for both sides. I am concerned that any strike inside Russia, and probably any large mass of troops in Crimea would result in Russia using tactical nukes. The war seems to leave behind only rubble. Radioactive rubble would not be an improvement. It would be beneficial if there could be peace even without victory. This may sound naive, but what would be the effect of a “real” vote in Crimea, Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson -overseen by an internationally recognized body- to counter Putin’s sham referendums? What message would such a vote send to the Russian people who are supporting Putin and the war?
One of the issue for Crimea specifically is that the Ukrainians would not accept a vote, even a legit one, that shows them wanting to re-join Russia.
The reason being that Crimea has a strong Russian population, partly for historical reasons but also because of Russian retirees being there BECAUSE Ukraine accepted those as part of “we’re all Slavic brothers and ex-Soviet workers” and Crimea has long been the Riveria for the Soviets.
Another reason is that “Khrushchev’s gift/mistake” is seen as somewhat reparatory (even if Khrushchev seems to have been motivated mostly by practical concerns over managing canals and dams) for the 1924 “theft” of Voronezh and Kursk (areas with, at the time, strong Ukrainian population) by the Russians…
It’s a bit like asking Spain to recognize a vote in the Costa del Sol to join the UK. It wouldn’t fly with Madrid.