Article by Duke in RedState
New Report Says Russians Shot Down Their Own Plane - Is Putin the Russian Biden?
Seems the Russians are not having as easy a time in Ukraine as they had been led to believe — or at least hoped — they would. This has not thrilled the leader of Russia, Vladimir Putin, in any way, shape, or form and I could not be more pleased with that.
Now, I’m well aware my previous articles and thoughts about the Russian invasion of Ukraine might not sit well with some folks and I’m fine with that. My feelings on this matter are not going to get hurt by some people’s bubble being burst about bio labs, nazis, or ethnic Russians being mistreated. which are some of the lame excuses being passed around as some wacky justification for Putin ordering this ill-advised and immoral invasion. Oh, and as I wrote right here — Trump Is Being Betrayed by Anyone Who Says They Support Both Him and Putin’s Invasion — if you are a Trump supporter, you are not doing the former President any favors with your excuses.
Also, yes, he knows more than you about this.
My colleague Streiff has written extensively about the conflict and his latest coincides with an article that caught my eye from the Washinton Examiner. Here was Streiff’s latest Putin Clueless and Misinformed About Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine, Says US Intelligence. From that article…
There are several fundamental failings of the Russian invasion, the stupidity of the entire fiasco aside.
*They attacked over too wide of a front with too many objectives and too few forces to accomplish the tactical missions if they met with armed opposition.
*They assumed away the fighting qualities and spirit of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
*They assumed away the possibility that the Ukrainian people might not welcome them.
*Because they assumed away the capabilities of their enemy, they didn’t adequately plan for refueling, rearming, and maintenance of their combat vehicles or sustaining their troops. As I’ve noted, the chances of a Russian soldier surviving his wounds are the same as in World War II (Russia Calling 100,000 Reservists to Active Duty and Moving Wagner Group From Syria to Deal With Ukraine Manpower Crunch).
What seems to be clear here is that the Russians bought their own B.S. which was turned out by their PR machine. This, of course, is dangerous, particularly when it comes to engaging in a war. You need rational people giving rational analysis and not feel-good B.S. to make the top guy happy.
Following up on what Streiff wrote about above is news that the Ruskies are not only having trouble resupplying their troops, but they even shot down one of their own planes.
From the Washington Examiner …
Russian troops are also facing a shortage of weapons and morale, Fleming suggested. A senior U.S. defense official told reporters that morale was “flagging” about two weeks ago.
“We’ve seen Russian soldiers, short of weapons and morale, refusing to carry out orders, sabotaging their own equipment, and even accidentally shooting down their own aircraft,” Fleming continued.
Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said the department could “concur” with the reports, citing an anonymous U.S. official that Russian President Vladimir Putin is being “misinformed by his advisers” about how poorly the war in Ukraine is playing out on the battlefield.
The White House corroborated the reports as well Wednesday, with communications director Kate Bedingfield saying, “We believe that Putin is being misinformed by his advisers about how badly the Russian military is performing and how the Russian economy has been crippled by sanctions because his senior advisers are too afraid to tell him the truth.”
Now, I know that some people are going to say, “Well, we just can’t trust the media,” and that is a good base model to follow. However, what you should do is actually question everything the media prints, shows, or talks about. Because the very people who will just dismiss all of these reports about the Russian army having trouble will then provide you with a link from a media outlet that they trust. Yet, if we can’t trust the media, then what is the standard that these people use to say that what they’re providing is factual as opposed to what anyone else is? Using blanket statements to act as though you are enlightened and it justifies your reasoning is, quite frankly, idiotic.
Vladimir Putin has clearly bought his own B.S. and has bitten off more than he can chew and is just now realizing this.
The only difference between him and Joe Biden is that Biden has always bitten off more than he could chew and he always chokes on it. As I just wrote earlier today about Biden on the southern border, he excels at overachieving on being wrong about policy matters. Former Obama-Biden Official Acknowledges President Biden Has a Problem at Our Southern Border.
Putin still has time to reverse course and remove his forces from Ukraine. That would show that he has thoroughly thought the issue through and realized he was wrong, which would start to rebuild not only Russia but its relations with the rest of the world.
If he refuses to do this, then he may very well go down in history as Russia’s own unique version of Joe Biden. If that happens, maybe they both can get together and share some vanilla ice cream and share notes on how to screw your country up.
Just as a side note, if you really want to follow some people who have some knowledge of foreign policy issues going on today I suggest you follow two of our fellow writers here at RedState. Check out Dennis Santiago and the aforementioned Streiff. I promise you will learn some things you did not know before.
