At Davos a few days ago, Henry Kissinger made headlines by recommending that Ukraine cede its territorial losses to Russia and seek a negotiated end to the war. Now WAPO is reporting the calamity that Ukrainian boots on the ground are experiencing. These are signs that the geopolitical narrative is beginning to shift.
The idea that Ukrainian military victory is impossible has begun to sink in. Indeed, the prospect of a complete failure of the US/NATO project in Ukraine — from rhetoric to sanctions to weaponry — has begun to take shape. I wonder how the story will end.
Tidewater News and Opinion Forum 
Maybe in the East, where Putin has turned all of his forces. There is no “calamity”. Overwhelming force against a small resistance. The victories that Ukrainian forces had in repelling the attack on Kyiv and other areas in the western part of the country are losses for Putin. There is also NO “complete failure” in Ukraine. NATO picking up two new members is a LOSS for Putin, and in his mind (and probably yours), the real calamity.
You and Zero Hedge have been cheerleading Putin since February.
Kissinger? I thought he died 10 years ago?
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RE: “You and Zero Hedge have been cheerleading Putin since February.”
Two points:
a) I disapprove of U.S. foreign policy in Ukraine. We could have done more to prevent the war, and we should have done less to provoke it. As it is, our policy has been to support the war to the death of the last Ukrainian.
b) U.S. propaganda about the war has been overwhelming. That’s why the narrative shift I describe is important.
Is WAPO “cheerleading Putin” when it writes, “[A] Ukrainian military commander and his top lieutenant describe disillusionment, deprivations and a sense of certain death among their troops on the front lines in Donbas”?
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Your problem is that you just don’t know how to cope with honest journalism. Of course, people bearing the brunt of the battle are worried, scared, depressed. You think there are no such soldiers on the Russian side? Do you think THEIR feelings get reported in Putin media?
BTW, your claim that we “provoked” the war in Ukraine is right out of Putin’s bullshit book. You ought to be embarrassed and ashamed to be so easily duped.
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RE: “BTW, your claim that we ‘provoked’ the war in Ukraine is right out of Putin’s bullshit book. You ought to be embarrassed and ashamed to be so easily duped.”
Actually, my claim is based on various lectures by John Mearsheimer. Here is one:
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So what?
Of course, you did not get this propaganda bullshit straight from Putin. This guy has been pushing the Russian line since the end of the Cold War.
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RE: “So what?”
You don’t know what you are talking about.
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you post Putin-based propaganda and say that Paul does not know what he is talking about?
THat is Rich.
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Yes, things are tough in Donbas. The ZeroHedge spin is about failure of command.
“We’re ready to fight and we will keep on fighting,” Lapko said. “We will protect every meter of our country — but with adequate commandments and without unrealistic orders. I took an oath of allegiance to the Ukrainian people. We’re protecting Ukraine and we won’t let anyone in as long as we’re alive.”
That is in the article from WAPO.
Ukrainian defense is partly dependent upon volunteers with little training, and cracks will appear in the resolve.
What struck me about the post is the almost giddy joy of seeing Ukrainian forces suffer in defense of their homeland from a murderous dictator.
To each his own, of course.
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RE: “What struck me about the post is the almost giddy joy of seeing Ukrainian forces suffer in defense of their homeland from a murderous dictator.”
I wish you could appreciate the significance of the post. For the last couple of weeks there have been multiple stories every single day parading Ukrainian losses, but almost none in Western media until Kissinger broke the ice. For WAPO to report on declining morale and increasing hardship of the Ukrainian forces is a big deal.
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Of course, it is difficult for Ukraine. They were invaded by a much larger nation. That is why their courageous, creative and successful defense is so widely admired. And that is why they get so much favorable press.
Whatever happens from this point forward Russia has already lost. Bigly.
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RE: “Whatever happens from this point forward Russia has already lost.”
How so? Russia’s economy is stronger today than it was before the war, and it has added a big, valuable chunk of Ukraine to its assets.
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Not yet it has. Plus Mariupol is totally destroyed. Considering the losses the Russians have suffered since invading, a Pyrrhic victory perhaps.
There have been plenty of articles in various media, including NYT, etc. that detailed some Ukrainian setbacks.
I think you are just not bothering to read them.
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“How so? Russia’s economy is stronger today than it was before the war, and it has added a big, valuable chunk of Ukraine to its assets.”
Russia’s economy is in shambles. You should stop believing what you read on Putin media. Especially tales that require magical thinking.
https://www.businessinsider.com/russian-economy-imploding-exports-under-pressure-ukraine-war-sanctions-2022-5
NATO is strengthened and more unified. Sweden and Finland have formally asked to join. NOTHING has been added to Russia by this invasion – at least not yet.
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RE: “Russia’s economy is in shambles.”
Do you even read your own sources, Mr. Murphy? Here’s a quote: “Brooks said the country’s account surpluses were ‘massive,’ which meant Russia was exporting far more than it was importing.”
Having a trade surplus is a good thing. It means your income is greater than your expenses.
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“Do you even read your own sources, Mr. Murphy? ”
You mean my source with the title. . . “Russia’s economy is ‘imploding’ as exports to the sanctioned country plummet, economists say”
Because of your zeal to prove nonsense you seize on one fact – Russia’s current account is in surplus. Try reading the headline again. This time with a little understanding and based on the EVIDENCE simply admit that your statement – “Russia’s economy is stronger today than it was before the war ” – is pure garbage.
Russia’s current account is in surplus because they cannot buy anything. Things that people enjoy. Things that keep machines running. Things that are vital components of goods they might need to manufacture. Being unable to benefit from the global system of trade, their economy is “imploding.” And it is only going to get worse until Putin is removed.
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The tone of the. ZeroHedge headline is just so demeaning and seemingly thrilled about Ukraine’s losses. Rootin’ for Putin is what it seemed like.
The WAPO story was covering a few troops near the Donbas front. Folks who have been fighting Russian troops for 8 years. Folks who are not professional soldiers but true patriots. Glee in their suffering is just so crappy.
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RE: “Rootin’ for Putin is what it seemed like.”
Too bad for people who want to hate Putin more than any other thing.
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From the poster with a big tie man crush on a dictatorial leader, not to mention the one on TFG, I am not surprised.
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Thank you for the post, Mr. Roberts.
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You’re saying that the Washington Post, the New York Times, and the Kremlin agree? I’m thinking, of course. Doesn’t the Left, no matter how sneakily, always agree with the Left?
The feeling I’m getting from every direction is that Russia is going broke. And there cannot be any place in the future for Putin. That’s the big question. The Russians will need a scapegoat so they can go on pretending to be smart. Ergo, everything must be Putin’s fault. That is certainly the tidy solution.
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Putin is no left wing leader. He is a dictator on the right, in a country stripped of assets by him and his oligarchs as the end result of crony capitalism gone off the rails. Best description is that Russia is a gangster run country that happens to have a lot of oil and gas.
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RE: “Best description is that Russia is a gangster run country that happens to have a lot of oil and gas.”
Russia also happens to have a lot of food and a lot of raw materials to support manufacturing. The country is far from “stripped of assets.”
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Ok, so they have other minerals. But they are still run by and for gangsters. When I say stripped, I mean revenues that should belong to the state and its citizens are sitting in banks, homes, yachts outside of Mother Russia.
The sorry state of the army that was supposed to have been rebuilt over the last decade is because oligarchs and Putin took most of the monies and stole them.
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RE: “The sorry state of the army that was supposed to have been rebuilt…”
What makes you think the Russian army is in a sorry state? Their weapon systems are as advanced as ours, more advanced in some cases. Outnumbered three to one when the war began, Russian troops have consistently outmanuevered and steadily beaten the largest, best trained army in Europe.
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I disagree. Beaten back from Kyiv and Kharkiv are not exactly victories. They couldn’t even take the airport near Kyiv in the early days when those elite Russian special forces were fresh.
Largest and best trained army in Europe? About 1/4 the size of the Russian army.
Motivated is the word. After Stalin’s atrocities, followed by Hitler and the followed again by Stalin, and finally another 3 decades of failed dictatorship under the Soviets, the Ukrainian people are not happy.
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RE: “Beaten back from Kyiv and Kharkiv are not exactly victories.”
They weren’t exactly losses, either. There is no reason to believe that Russia intended to capture either of those cities.
RE: “Largest and best trained army in Europe? About 1/4 the size of the Russian army.”
Maybe 1/4 the size of Russia’s total army, but three times the size of the army Russia fielded in Ukraine. And now in the process of being wiped off the face of the Earth.
RE: “Motivated is the word.”
Maybe at first. Now, especially after defeat in Mariupol and surrender at Asavstal, demoralized is the real word.
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Wow, can you be anymore tickled by Ukraine’s suffering?
The Azovstal stand lasted almost 3 months for the biggest army in Eurasia to take down a few thousand soldiers and volunteers.
So Russia now has a nice pile of rubble instead of a thriving industrial port.
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The Russian Army got its ass handed to it by Ukrainian freedom fighters.
Your love of Mother Russia is blinding you to the realities that they went after Kyiv and Kharkiv and did not attain those goals is a loss. UNless you define losing as winning … Like the 2020 Election in which TFG attempted to win by losing.
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“Wow, can you be anymore tickled by Ukraine’s suffering?”
It is a disgraceful and disgusting display of nonsense that you are trying – and failing – to reason with. It is not possible to have a real conversation with such a person. There is no evidence that can penetrate such stubborn and willful stupidity. But, good on you for trying and remaining civil. It is not easy.
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RE: “Wow, can you be anymore tickled by Ukraine’s suffering?”
Can you be any more stupid? I have been opposed to this war since the first day.
RE: “So Russia now has a nice pile of rubble instead of a thriving industrial port.”
Actually, Russia reopened the port of Mariupol yesterday.
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“I have been opposed to this war since the first day.“
Except for Putin and his minions you and the rest of the world did not want Russia to invade Ukraine again. So your assertion is like saying you are opposed to smallpox.
In my opinion, Nazis, NATO and EU memberships, Donbas, etc. are all just phony pretexts for war by Putin. He just wanted Ukraine to be under his murderous thumb and was counting on doing so with impunity. He counted wrong because the world and the Ukrainians said no.
He planned on the “weak and morally corrupt” West to do nothing and Ukrainians to welcome him as a liberator. Now, to save face, he is destroying what he can’t have. Like a 5 year old with a tantrum.
In addition, stripping Ukraine of its nuclear weapons in return for a security agreement with Russia to not invade or put economic pressure on it was broken by Putin.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_weapons_and_Ukraine
Note that some folks said in 1994 that Ukraine would be attacked by Russia if it gave up nukes.
They were correct.
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