No Surrender, No Peace
Two days ago, Sergei Lavrov told Russian state media that Ukraine should surrender for its own good.
The goals of Vladimir Putin's "special military operation" are "well-known," he said, during remarks to TASS. "The enemy," he went on, should "fulfill them for [its] own good. Otherwise the issue will be decided by the Russian army."
Lavrov's comments were laughable. Or as laughable as remarks can be in this context. For one thing, Putin's goals aren't well-known, likely not even to him. Sure,
History rhymes.
The Soviet Union didn’t win the Cold War, and it didn’t win WWII (contrary to a lot of revisionist historical takes); American armaments (the Arsenal of Democracy) won that conflict for the West.
We can’t acknowledge that several factors play a part in historical affairs?
Nuance is inconvenient, isn’t it?
Back in WW-II, the Germans sought to lure support from people in Ukraine with the promise of independence from the Soviet Union. Some bit. Thus the “Nazi” reference had a tiny germ of truth to it among the few people old enough to remember that. But something which happened 80 years ago is hardly a justification for the direct and indirect slaughter of civilians.
I had never heard that term, my study toward and eventually into the historical strata suggests the resolved human resource and the effective organization from the time boots hit the training grounds until they were sent off to perform was the primary driver of arsenal effectiveness.
The almost overnight conversion, after the attack on Pearl Harbor, of American manufacturing from production for domestic consumption to the production, in unprecedented quantities, of merchant ships, troop carriers, tanks, artillery, artillery shells, and other armaments was a signal factor in the Allies’ victory over Nazi Germany and its Axis allies. Those armaments flowed to Great Britain initially, and then the Soviet Union — a decision Churchill was vehemently opposed to. And, of course, they enabled the U.S. armed forces to fight a globe-spanning war, with decisive effectiveness, on two far-flung fronts.
Unjust as this most assuredly is, the US generally gets a pass when it screws up and people die. Russia will be afforded no such leeway when this is over.
As a French (i.e. someone who’s opinion doesn’t count) I’m glad you recognize it is only US might that allows GWB and his crew to enjoy a safe and out-of-view retirement rather than facing the Hague court.
OTOH, it seems to me that, short of Russians overthrowing Putin and delivering him to Ukraine/the West, he too will escape fair retribution. We’re not sending in troops into a nuclear armed country for a Panama-style arrest.
Russia itself will remain punished (as in, under sanctions) for the duration of Putin’s regime at the very least. Afterwards, it’ll depend on who takes over. Apparently, Putin is not the craziest guy in the swamps of Russian imperial dreamland…
From Newsweek: Serhiy Haidai, governor of the Russian-occupied Luhansk region, said on his Telegram channel on Monday that thousands of Russian troops had died in the battle for Bakhmut, echoing a similar assessment by the Institute for the Study of War (ISW).
Meanwhile, a Wagner Group twitter feed includes a video of soldiers in an empty encampment outside of Bakhmut, expressing vigorous complaints to Russian military leadership, laced with profanity, noting they have no shells for artillery.
I am a cheerleader for the Ukrainians in this fight. But the Russians are incompetent and compulsive aggressors. They deserve to lose the war. And being mindless killers and sore losers, the Russians will, to the extent they can, destroy the entire country of Ukraine in the process, including the Ukrainian way of life, and the ability of the Ukrainians to manage even one day of collective existence. Plain and simple, the Russian way is to subdue any shred of individualism. Just my opinion, but I think they’re leadership is sick, as in paranoid and psychopathic.
Putin is fighting Ukraine while simultaneously killing any Russian oligarchs that are potentially not 100% loyal. The latest was a Russian Sausage tycoon.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/jonathanponciano/2022/12/27/russian-sausage-tycoon-dies-by-suicide-in-hotel-fall-just-the-latest-russian-elite-including-putin-critics-to-die-mysteriously/amp/
this reader would not be heartbroken should Putin succumb to “Tall Building Syndrome” that is running rampant in Russia these days…
Russia has been at war with the west for the last 40 years, and many people/politicians have just woken up to this. Sauron and his orcs are in plain sight and I sincerely hope the goons who control Russia get crushed soon. The Ukranians have done the west a massive favour, and are paying a heavy price: though I am confident they will pick the orc machine apart piece by piece
West needs to take support for Ukraine to the next level. Russia is weakening, time to finish it.