"Consequences You Have Never Seen in History”
Putin is unfortunately right about some things....
I don’t know if this is real video taken under the circumstances described, but it might as well be.
Weep for the children of the world.
It is never too late to stand up to evil.
Except when it is.
Except when it is too late for the children of Ukraine.
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I have argued for many years that nearly every national security and foreign policy challenge for the United States derives from the near utter absence of leverage over Putin and Xi.
This has been true with Democrats in the White House and Republicans in the White House.
It is true right now.
As missiles fly, tanks roll, and the free world determines its level of resolve, this is where I see things.
Remember: Appraising Putin is not the same thing as praising Putin.
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PUTIN’S GAME
Checkers or chess?
Status: He thinks eight steps ahead, adjusts when necessary, and faces none of the constraints of a democratic leader.
Reality: 3D Chess.
Advantage: Putin.
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PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN
Decisive or dithering?
Status: Mr. Biden will never be decisive enough for Tom Cotton, but getting the Nord Stream 2 pipeline nixed is one of many examples where the president has demonstrated resolve, which he knew all along might not matter in Chapter 2.
Reality: Decisive, to no end (yet).
Advantage: Tie.
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UKRAINE'S PRESIDENT VOLODYMYR ZELENSKY
Tough or tenuous?
Status: The world can wish otherwise all it wishes.
Reality: Tenuous.
Advantage: Putin.
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PARAMOUNT LEADER XI
Enemy or evil?
Status: He got his Olympics and now he can move from spectator to participant whenever he wishes.
Reality: Evil.
Advantage: Putin.
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U.S.-LED SANCTIONS
Persuasive or punitive?
Status: Unprecedented in scope and severity – and of little concern to the Russian strongman’s invasion plans anytime soon (if ever).
Reality: Punitive (at best).
Advantage: Putin.
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UKRAINIAN MILITARY
Porcupine or pushover?
Status: The “porcupine” metaphor, per David Ignatius: “[T]he Biden administration’s plan for combating an all-out Russian invasion… is to make Ukraine an indigestible ‘porcupine’ for Russian occupiers.”
Reality: Pushover.
Advantage: Putin.
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U.S. SPECIAL FORCES ON THE GROUND IN UKRAINE
Potent or powerless?
Status: They are already performing acts of heroism that will be lost to history, and/but will have zero impact on the ultimate outcome.
Reality: Powerless.
Advantage: Putin.
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NATO
Formidable or fragile?
Status: They can march around and talk tough, but since they can’t so much as fire a bullet at a Russian invader, what good can they really do?
Reality: Fragile.
Advantage: Putin.
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EUROPEAN UNION
Strong or strained?
Status: Tourism is not the only industry that is about to be decimated.
Reality: Strained (at best).
Advantage: Putin.
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BRUSSELS BUREAUCRATS
Steadfast or stunned?
Status: You can hear it in the voice of Euro diplos being interviewed on BBC Radio.
Reality: Stunned.
Advantage: Putin.
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POLAND
Safe or sitting duck?
Status: If Putin takes Ukraine in full, he will almost certainly test the West, and it could be here.
Reality: Sitting duck.
Advantage: Putin.
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IRAN NUCLEAR DEAL
Helpful or hurtful?
Status: Could the West and U.S. really think now is the time to make a bargain with another evil regime??? Worst….optics….ever.
Reality: Hurtful.
Advantage: Putin.
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THE AMERICAN PEOPLE
Indignant or indifferent?
Status: Slip into any booth in any diner in any Wisconsin town and eavesdrop.
Reality: Indifferent (and the bar is very high to see a change to indignant, except about inflation, crime, immigration, the economy, and other problems here at home).
Advantage: Putin.
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CONGRESS
Determined or divided?
Status: It is only going to get geometrically worse the worse the facts on the ground in Ukraine are.
Reality: Divided.
Advantage: Putin.
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ESSENTIALS
* David Ignatius on the troubling history of Russian spy craft on this terrain:
The biggest problem for Ukraine and its allies is that Russia knows this battlespace well — and undoubtedly has been recruiting a network of Ukrainian double agents. These agents can sow havoc for a resistance movement by revealing its leaders, safe houses, communications and plans of attack. And it gets worse: A trademark of Russian intelligence, for a century, has been its ability to manipulate resistance groups in Ukraine and elsewhere so that they were actually controlled by the Kremlin.
*
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CAMPAIGN 2024
* If you don’t follow Drew Holden on Twitter, you are failing to give yourself a full-on view of why the Reds find the Blue Dominant Media so offensive.
* Someday, there will be accountability for Donald Trump, but he is apparently not a ham sandwich.
* Henry Olsen deconstructs the CPAC schedule for more meaning.
For all the latest news all the time, check out the 24/7 website the Walking Duck.
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IN OTHER NEWS…
* This Chris Redd/Eric Adams appearance did not quite gel, but still is fun to watch.
* This campaign kickoff video by one of the candidates trying to unseat Lauren Boebert in Colorado is compelling and/but disturbing. And creatively hilarious.
* Some of you question my news judgment on occasion, but I can tell you without fear of contradiction that this would have been the lede of WWoN if not for WWIII.
If you don’t appreciate New England, Taylor, and the “Sweet Caroline” antecedent, perhaps you will miss my point.
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