I wonder what the Russian response will be to the following developments:While Biden has pledged not to send US troops to Ukraine, the US has sent additional troops and fighter jets to eastern European countries including Poland and Romania in recent weeks and on Thursday announced the deployment of 7,000 additional troops to Germany.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg announced Friday that the alliance has activated elements of the 40,000-troop NATO Response Force (NRF) for the first time, warning at a press conference: "The Kremlin's objectives are not limited to Ukraine."
HerePoland has shipped a convoy with ammunition to Ukraine, according to the country's Minister of Defense Mariusz Błaszczak, making it the first publicly acknowledged shipment of military aid to Ukraine since the Russian invasion began.
Here
It's blithely easy to for me to smugly proclaim about geopolitical developments an ocean away. I am protected from all but the most direly suicidal impulses by all but one man. Doesn't mean I won't do it. When I read between the lines on the proclamations of the voices I listen to, when I parse everything through the perspectives available to me, when I regard the information I have seen that I trust, I get a sense of the following: - Putin initially thought that a large show of presence would cow and intimidate Germany and the UN into a resolution locking Ukraine out of NATO in exchange for Nord Stream 2. It didn't. - Putin then thought that a shock and awe campaign by his limited number of Spetznaz and assault troops would be greeted as liberators and he could declare victory. He can't. - Putin now has a choice between a full saturation bombing campaign followed by marching a bunch of 1-year conscripts across DEARLY held territory or... finding some way to act like what he's already gotten is all he really wanted. It seems as if Putin relied on a number of assumptions that have proven to be false. He could presume that his regime can withstand the opprobrium brought on by unlimited warfare against a hardened target. How hard-core are they, really? No matter what, I haven't seen any people in-the-know assert that things have gone exactly as Putin planned.
Okay but what about the fact that Russia isn’t being allowed to participate in Eurovision this year???
I mean have you seen any of Russia's Eurovision entries? It's a fucking kindness.
Big question is whether this is a feeling out process for Putin. If no response, then he gets Ukraine. If there's a massive response, then he initiates talks. Either way he claims victory and walks away knowing where he stands. And all for the price of a few Russian conscripts and some nameless, faceless Ukrainians.