Historian Heather Cox Richardson has interesting insights on the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The overwhelming resistance to Putin is remarkable, and Putin has turned to carpet-bombing cities and devastating civilian areas. Despite Russian efforts to convince the Russian public that the war “to liberate Ukraine from fascists” is going well, she points to the growing number of anti-war protests in Russia.
She writes:
In Ukraine, Russian troops escalated their bombing of cities, including Kyiv, Kharkiv, Odesa, and Mariupol, in what Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky called a campaign of terror to break the will of the Ukrainians. Tonight (in U.S. time), airborne troops assaulted Kharviv, which is a city of about 1.5 million, and a forty-mile-long convoy of tanks and trucks is within 17 miles of Kyiv, although a shortage of gas means they’ll move very slowly.
About 660,000 refugees have fled the country.
But the war is not going well for Putin, either, as international sanctions are devastating the Russian economy and the invasion is going far more slowly than he had apparently hoped. The ruble has plummeted in value, and the Kremlin is trying to stave off a crisis in the stock market by refusing to open it. Both Exxon and the shipping giant Maersk have announced they are joining BP in cutting ties to Russia, Apple has announced it will not sell products in Russia, and the Swiss-based company building Nord Stream 2 today said it was considering filing for insolvency.
Ukraine’s military claimed it today destroyed a large Russian military convoy of up to 800 vehicles, and Ukrainian authorities claim to have stopped a plot to assassinate Zelensky and to have executed the assassins. The death toll for Russian troops will further undermine Putin’s military push. Russians are leaving dead soldiers where they lie, likely to avoid the spectacle of body bags coming home. It appears at least some of the invaders had no idea they were going to Ukraine, and some have allegedly been knocking holes in their vehicles’ gas tanks to enable them to stay out of the fight. Morale is low.
Associated Press correspondent Francesca Ebel reports from Russia: “Life in Russia is deteriorating extremely rapidly. So many of my friends are packing up & leaving the country. Their cards are blocking. Huge lines for ATMs etc. Rumours that borders will close soon. ‘What have we done? How did we not stop him earlier?’ said a friend to me y[ester]day.” The Guardian’s Moscow correspondent, Andrew Roth, agreed. “Something has definitely shifted here in the last two days.”
According to the BBC, a local government body in Moscow’s Gagarinsky District called the war a “disaster” that is impoverishing the country, and demanded the withdrawal of troops from Ukraine. Another, similar, body said the invasion was “insane” and “unjustified” and warned, “Our economy is going to hell.”
Putin clearly did not expect the European Union, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), and the U.S. and other allies and partners around the world, including the United Kingdom, Canada, Japan, Korea, Australia, New Zealand, and others, to work together to stand against his aggression. Even traditionally neutral Switzerland is on board. The insistence of the U.S. on exposing Putin’s moves ahead of time, building a united opposition, and warning of false flag operations to justify an invasion meant that the anti-authoritarian world is working together now to stop the Russian advance. Today, Taiwan announced it sent more than 27 tons of medical supplies to Ukraine, claiming its own membership in the “democratic camp” in the international community.
This extraordinary international cooperation is a tribute to President Joe Biden, who has made defense of democracy at home and abroad the centerpiece of his presidency. Biden, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and State Department officials have been calling, meeting, listening, and building alliances with allies since they took office, and by last Thanksgiving they were making a concerted push to bring the world together in anticipation of Putin’s aggression.
Their early warnings have rehabilitated the image of U.S. intelligence, badly damaged during the Trump years, when the president and his loyalists attacked U.S. intelligence and accepted the word of autocrats, including Putin.
It has also been a diplomatic triumph, but in his State of the Union address tonight, Biden quite correctly put it second to the “fearlessness,…courage,…and determination” of the Ukrainians who are resisting the Russian troops.
The rest of her post is about Biden’s State of the Union address. You will not be surprised to learn that the President was heckled by Congress members Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert. Boebert’s the gun-carrying Member of Congress from Colorado.
Stop the frigging hypocrisy. How about ‘analyzing’ all what the US has inflicted upon nations around the world since the end of WW 2??? Two wrongs don’t make one right but…brushing truth under the carpet?
Yeah, definitely what we need to be doing–self flagellating in the face of Putin’s terror attack on the Ukranians. Take your trolling elsewhere.
There is this much truth there, however: I hope that the world, including people in the United States, is learning from this, and that the next time a bunch of politicians begin to fabricate something like the case for attacking Iraq, people won’t forget. It’s time we started taking violations of territorial integrity and war crimes seriously. This could be a major breakthrough: the recognition that these things simply cannot be acceptable going forward and that the world must be united on this.
That the U.S. has much to account for is certainly the case, but whataboutism isn’t an argument.
True. Whataboutism is part of Trumpism. When we use it (and we all inclined to use it when we want to shut down a reasonable argument), this is what we should remember.
John Oliver’s take on Whataboutism is brilliant! Thanks for posting it.
“Now this technique of saying “Whatabout” is actually an old Soviet propaganda tool. And the reason it is dangerous is that it implies that all actions, regardless of context, share a moral equivalency. And since nobody is perfect, all criticism is hypocritical and everybody should do whatever they want.
It is a depressingly effective tool….”
That clip should be required watching for all journalists.
Children being bombed–that’s an argument, one that settles the matter definitively, I think.
The invasion of Ukraine is a violation of international law (technically, the crime of aggression), and the bombing of civilians is war crime.
https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/28/europe/gallery/ukraine-girl-killed/index.html
Any opinion on Palestine? It seems like Israel is expansionist, but maybe on watching all the wrong ultraleft movies.
I believe in a two-state solution. That’s the only way forward.
Trump encouraged the worst elements in Israeli politics.
That would be the day when a too-big-and-powerful country’s president is charged with war crimes. But I never thought any of the communist dictators would ever get punished, and then they executed Romania’s Ceausescu, so the time may come sooner than we think when all presidents will be held accountable. Maybe Putin’s case will be the precedent for such international law.
Could start with George Bush, Jr., Dick Cheney, and that lot. War criminals, all.
peskyvera, may I assume that you approve the carpet-bombing of civilians populations?
Always good to have diversity of opinion. Now we have a defender of Putin’s war on Ukraine.
John Bolton on Trump and Russia: He barely knew where Ukraine was, knew nothing of the history or issues, and, far from being “tougher on Russia than anybody,” raged all the time about his own administration’s sanctions against Russia.
Gee. What a surprise.
I have only this qualification: Biden needs (and deserves) some more triumphs, though he has had a few, certainly. But nothing about the current situation is triumphal. Sane, successful, necessary, skilled, yes, but not “a triumph.” We must be scrupulous about avoiding such language.
And Biden has been. One of the things I very much admire in him and in Jen Psaki is that they don’t talk that way. They understand the gravity of all this. Ms. Richardson does, too, but it’s all to easy to fall into using such language as “triumph.”
Yeah, it’s difficult to see where the triumph is when Ukraine’s existence as an independent nation is very much in doubt.
As you often do, Mate, you go precisely to the point.
The conflict is about to take a turn for the worse as the frustrated despot targets civilian buildings.
As for Boebert and Taylor Greene, they should be censured and removed from their committees. They should be neutralized so that all they have left is their rants and vitriol.
These two are a complete disgrace.
Definitely not examples of our “best and brightest.”
Accused pedophile Matt Gaetz has been somewhat muzzled by all the negative press. However, he spoke at CPAC where he praised the “genius” Putin and criticized all the “dumb” Democrats. Gaetz also said that American taxpayers should not be footing the bill for NATO. I hope these fools cause a civil war in the Republican party, and they cancel each other out. That’s the kind of cancel culture I can support.
The more Republicans fight one another, the better for Democrats.
Matt Gaetz should be held to account for his behavior, which is probably criminal. He is one of those Republicans who turn my stomach. Madison Cawthorn is another.
“They should be neutralized so that all they have left is their rants and vitriol.”
I first read neutered instead of neutralized.
I think if Putin falls and is replaced as Russia’s leader by someone that isn’t a narcist, sociopathic psychopath, then the social media support from Russia for Traitor Trump and all of his fascist MAGA zombie supporters will vanish, pulling the rug out from under that movement leaving it floundering to survive.
I can’t imagine how Putin could “fall.”
If the economic pressure that hurts the people of Russia causes discontent, he will become more repressive.
As it is, all his political opponents are either dead or in prison.
A word of complaint, and the critic may disappear.
Imagine this: Putin gives the order for rank and file troops to fire on demonstrators. the rank and file troops refuse. this is how the Czar fell. This is how Communism fell. Will it happen? I never thought I would ever see:
peace between Northern Ireland warring factions
The fall of the Berlin Wall
The election of someone like Trump
Peace between the Palestinians and Israelis
I really do not think this will be the fall of Putin.
Who knows. Sometimes a win.
Well, the 7000 signatures of Russian journalists and scientists on an open protest letter indicate not only that these people are extremely brave, but also that Putin’s Russia is not the Soviet Union anymore. 7000 might have disappeared in labor camps during Stalin but I think it’s doubtful it can happen in today’s Russia.
Mate: I agree with your perception completely. Hard to imagine. Easier for John Lennon to write songs.
The article shows that the weight of world economic pressure should make Russia back off. With China and Taiwan, will the world have the needed economic power over China? Hopefully this will set back their ambitions of expansion.
Excellent point, Ted. China may learn from the current situation in Ukraine that invading Taiwan is not such a good idea after all.
Truly scary times, there is no doubt that Putin would resort to nuclear weapons, he has made that clear. One can only speculate about what booby-traps the Russians are laying in and about the Chernobyl reactors which will be a threat and menace even after they have departed Ukraine. Is Putin Hitler with nuclear weapons? Does it not occur to Putin that Russia would also be leveled by a nuclear war. The man does not give a damn.
https://www.thenation.com/article/world/information-war-media-ukraine/?custno=&zip=60804&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=3.2.2022&utm_term=daily
Hello Diane and everyone,
Does it really matter if reports have been “hyped” by the media as this article contends (although I’m not sure they have)? People’s lives are being devastated. They are losing everything. Can’t we just see that regardless of what the media “hypes?” Of course the US isn’t lily-white in everything it does but this is what is happening now. This country has NEVER had to face what Ukraine is facing right now – total destruction of its cities and people. We are a nation of spoiled children with child-like attitudes. I’m one of them.
Mamie, this link confirms Putin is a liar who should never be believed. This link notes that Putin is the BIGGEST liar of all! Not western media, but Putin! We should thank the person who posted it for finally acknowledging how much of a liar Putin is!
“After all, the biggest lie in this conflict has been Putin’s claim that he was not preparing an invasion. Russian officials have also maintained—despite clear evidence to the contrary—that their military is not hitting civilian targets in Ukraine, and the state-backed broadcaster RT is still calling the invasion a “special operation” while downplaying the scale of the attack.”
Not since the Civil War, at least.
Yeah, the important call from Ukraine is “I need ammunition, not a ride.”
Thank you!
“After all, the biggest lie in this conflict has been Putin’s claim that he was not preparing an invasion. Russian officials have also maintained—despite clear evidence to the contrary—that their military is not hitting civilian targets in Ukraine, and the state-backed broadcaster RT is still calling the invasion a “special operation” while downplaying the scale of the attack.”
The media has GOT to stop believing Putin’s lies! I missed YOUR apology, dienne77, when you ranted here about how Putin had no plans to invade.
The BIGGEST lie in the conflict — I agree! And you kept amplifying it here!
Thank you so much for posting this link. Now all we need is an apology!
Apology for what? For not predicting the future correctly? This is a blog, not a superhero movie.
I think our resident Putin defender has finally realized what a horrific person Putin is. I want to thank her for posting a link that explains how some folks have ignorantly been repeating the lies of Putin and how they need to apologize and stop posting Putin lies:
“After all, the biggest lie in this conflict has been Putin’s claim that he was not preparing an invasion. Russian officials have also maintained—despite clear evidence to the contrary—that their military is not hitting civilian targets in Ukraine, and the state-backed broadcaster RT is still calling the invasion a “special operation” while downplaying the scale of the attack.”
Just for you but off topic
https://join.substack.com/p/will-the-media-hand-the-gop-power?s=r
Read it! Thanks, Joel!
Sound Familiar?
While the West widely condemns Russia for what it deems is an unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, Russia is planning to force schoolchildren to watch a broadcast about the government’s justification for the Ukrainian invasion.
Russia’s Ministry of Education said in a notice on Wednesday that schoolchildren will be forced to watch a broadcast on March 3 about the “necessity” of a “liberation mission” in Ukraine.
The notice said that children will be forced to learn about why Russia believes NATO seemingly poses a danger, and why Russia felt like it needed to intervene in eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region.
According to multiple reports, school systems across Russia have been distributed information directing teachers to instruct their students on justifications for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last week.
Business Insider
Sounds like a return to the Stalin era of thought control.
Barren Lowbutt and Margarine Trailer Greed give new meaning to deplorable. #CensureBoebert
“she points to the growing number of anti-war protests in Russia. ”
The open protest letter by Russian scientists and journalists, written on the day of the invasion, is here
https://www.eureporter.co/world/russia/2022/02/24/an-open-letter-from-russian-scientists-and-science-journalists-against-the-war-with-ukraine/
The Russian version says that so far 6900 people have signed it. That’s a huge number of very brave people.
https://trv-science.ru/2022/02/we-are-against-war/
“It appears at least some of the invaders had no idea they were going to Ukraine, and some have allegedly been knocking holes in their vehicles’ gas tanks to enable them to stay out of the fight. Morale is low.”
Based on this article, Putin made a big mistake that may cost him his presidency.
I read that China is stillwilling to buy Russian natural gas, wheat which undermines some of the sanctions against Russia. Will there be sanctions against China then?
Really good question.