Yes. I think there are two possibilities right now. 1. Putin has been busy war planning, dealing with civil unrest, and monitoring those situations to grasp how quickly his economy is tanking and all of the details involved. I am sure he has some idea, but is busy worrying about the other stuff. 2. He wants to put up a strong front and show that the Ukrainian resistance and moves by the rest of the world to tank his economy can't stop him and Russia, so he'll keep playing hardball for at least a while longer. He may not ever stop, but if it can be kept up it will weaken him and he may bleed out until he has little power left to throw around. Either way, they need to keep the pressure on him and keep aiding Ukraine as much as possible. It is the most damaging to Putin and it seems like it is building support worldwide for the Ukrainians.
It's a sitting duck and it reminds me of 1940, just before the explosive end of the Phony War. French observation planes spotted a gigantic traffic jam leading into the Ardennes filled with hundreds of tanks, armored cars, most of Germany's artillery. Just sitting there out in the open, waiting for the order to go into the "impassible" terrain where beyond French defenses were at their weakest. The French aircraft photographed it and contacted headquarters, terribly excited at their discovery. The French High Command dismissed it. "Impossible!" they said (except in French). Had they gathered up their air force, told the British, who had a powerful bomber force, they could have destroyed it. World War Two in Europe would have over before it began. The infamous Blitzkrieg kaput. Ukraine knows where that huge Russian armored column is, but unlike the Allies in 1940, they have little in hand with which to blast it to Kingdom Come. It's incredibly frustrating. It makes me angry to think about it.
Why is everyone worried about the Russian road convoy? Has no one watched Russians drive? Head over to YouTube.
The whole world has known about this convoy for 24 hours and yet nothing has happened to it. Perhaps the Ukrainian's lack the capability to attack it and the Russians know that? If they do have the capability to attack it, why haven't they?
There is no question that white privilege exists, and can be obvious and in many cases subtle and it is a problem. How many blue eyed, blonde haired countries have been invaded in our lifetime? You point to Yugoslavia, that series of wars started nearly 35 years ago. There have been very few wars in recent history where a country of blonde haired and blue eyed people have been targeted. It’s just a fact. I don’t know what the reporter who made the report was thinking subconsciously or consciously. I just know that the statement on its face isn’t proof of any bias. If anything, an argument can be made that in recent history whites usually don’t invade nations of other whites… they attack areas with brown people… and that is factually true. I am open to the idea of white reporter bias, but the examples I have heard are not terribly compelling and there are substantive differences in the Middle East and Ukraine that have to be considered. As to your larger point of white (especially male) bias in the USA and the West, it absolutely exists and it is pervasive and most white males don’t see it because they are the most preferred citizens in history and other white males made the social norms. There has been examples of white privilege going on right now. For example African illegals and refugees have been entering Europe in large numbers and it is common to hear European white men to openly share disgust at them being in Europe. In the Ukraine blacks were told they had to wait until all Ukrainian citizens got out before they could leave. I am not a brown person in the West, so if you tell me it sounds like bias to you, I will give your opinion a lot of weight as I may well not see it as I grew up very poor, but I am a 6’5” white male Viking living in the USA… I ooze entitlement from society.
I will be amazed if Ukraine holds on. Russia taking Kiev and defeating the Ukrainian military seems like a certainty to me. Then an insurgency will follow and it will become a CIA war. The Ukrainians needed more Turkish TB2 drones and a ton of the Harpy Israeli loitering munitions (suicide drones) that Azerbaijan used so well against the Armenian military. The loitering munitions would have been huge because they are small and only have a 10 foot wingspan. They can be hidden from satellites on the ground, and have a radar signature of a large bird in the air. They WRECKED the Armenians and totally demoralized their troops. The EU is giving Ukraine some fighter jets supposedly, but if they had our fighter jets, a-10s, apache helicopters, and B2 bombers in support.... this convoy would have been gone in a couple hours and it would have resembled the highway to hell in Gulf War I.
That's great news, and they are jets that their pilots can fly, but they better hurry. I had heard that they were getting several of the remaining Soviet aircraft a few of the Eastern European states still possess, but hadn't heard numbers or specifically what they would be getting. What I have read is that the fighters and fighter bombers are coming loaded for bear. Maybe we'll see a miracle before it's too late and they can use them to attack the huge Russian column. We'll see. It won't be easy even if they're able to. Russia has very sophisticated air defense systems and I'd be shocked if that column isn't being protected by them, but the way this invasion of Ukraine has been carried out has been surprisingly clumsy. The Ukrainian pilots are experienced, brave, and determined. If they have the means, they will go to the limit and beyond. I hope they get the chance.
I am thinking they would fly in to Ukraine attack instead of getting station first. Also maybe some pilots could be volunteers
One thing to have jets, another thing to have well trained and effective jet fighter pilots. I imagine that is a fairly small and rare human resource in Ukraine. Would be interesting to see foreign volunteers come in and fly them. We’ve seen that before in the 20th century. The flying tigers in China.. Soviet pilots in Korea and, maybe, Vietnam.
Ukraine has an air force of about 40,000, with 225 aircraft, at least before the invasion began. My guess is that they have the pilots, and as you mentioned, there may be a few volunteers, although NATO would likely be trying to prevent that.
McClellan made a similar mistake during the Civil War when Lee's plans to attack near Antietam were accidentally intercepted. The delay arguably prolonged the war and added hundreds of thousands of casualties. Also lead to Lincoln finally firing McClellan.
They had 98 fighter jets but 14 were converted for training. I saw a video where a bunch of their fighter planes were taken out via Russia bombs while on the ground and most likely without a pilot in it. They have lost some pilots in the air but they should have some left.
