riptides

I think China is dumbfounded as the rest of the world with Putin.
But, they do think the war he has waged is a good thing to distract the US from its other intentions. More economic dominance and a general shift in the order of Taiwan and Asia Pacific in general. Unfortunately the economy of China has hit a major road bump and well the Military is seemly to be undercut by recent events like the Japan exposures of being hacked.
Putin will never negotiate a settlement. Someone else maybe, but no way Putin is in power at that point.
 
 

Someone should probably point out that the unpopular Kofman opinion getting kicked around didn't come from Kofman. It was written by Franz-Stefan Gady.

Here are some daily loss roundups from: https://twitter.com/lost_warinua
Generally, you can see Ukraine is leading in volume and in value. Russia is losing artillery, enables and armor of various, while Ukraine is mainly losing armor of various kinds. 

Am I a bad person if I think "finally Russians are doing to each other what they did to us (people of Central and Eastern Europe) for generations"?

So it was started.
How do you not view this as civil war?
PMC Wagner Commanders’ Council made a decision: the evil brought by the military leadership of the country must be stopped. They neglect the lives of soldiers. They forgot the word “justice”, and we will bring it back. Those, who destroyed today our guys, who destroyed tens, tens of thousands of lives of Russian soldiers will be punished. I’m asking: no one resist. Everyone who will try to resist, we will consider them a danger and destroy them immediately, including any checkpoints on our way. And any aviation that we see above our heads. I’m asking everyone to remain calm, do not succumb to provocations, and remain in their houses. Ideally, those along our way, do not go outside. After we finished what we started, we will return to the frontline to protect our motherland. Presidential authority, Government, Ministry of Internal Affairs, Rosgvardia, and other departments will continue operating as before. We will deal with those who destroy Russian soldiers. And we will return to the frontline. Justice in the Army will be restored. And after this, justice for the whole of Russia."
 

I just hope that the message was delivered loud and clear not to mess with the nuke plant.
In spectacular Russian fashion, this is chaos and all must be held accountable.

So it was started.
How do you not view this as civil war?
PMC Wagner Commanders’ Council made a decision: the evil brought by the military leadership of the country must be stopped. They neglect the lives of soldiers. They forgot the word “justice”, and we will bring it back. Those, who destroyed today our guys, who destroyed tens, tens of thousands of lives of Russian soldiers will be punished. I’m asking: no one resist. Everyone who will try to resist, we will consider them a danger and destroy them immediately, including any checkpoints on our way. And any aviation that we see above our heads. I’m asking everyone to remain calm, do not succumb to provocations, and remain in their houses. Ideally, those along our way, do not go outside. After we finished what we started, we will return to the frontline to protect our motherland. Presidential authority, Government, Ministry of Internal Affairs, Rosgvardia, and other departments will continue operating as before. We will deal with those who destroy Russian soldiers. And we will return to the frontline. Justice in the Army will be restored. And after this, justice for the whole of Russia."
 

So it was started.
How do you not view this as civil war?
PMC Wagner Commanders’ Council made a decision: the evil brought by the military leadership of the country must be stopped. They neglect the lives of soldiers. They forgot the word “justice”, and we will bring it back. Those, who destroyed today our guys, who destroyed tens, tens of thousands of lives of Russian soldiers will be punished. I’m asking: no one resist. Everyone who will try to resist, we will consider them a danger and destroy them immediately, including any checkpoints on our way. And any aviation that we see above our heads. I’m asking everyone to remain calm, do not succumb to provocations, and remain in their houses. Ideally, those along our way, do not go outside. After we finished what we started, we will return to the frontline to protect our motherland. Presidential authority, Government, Ministry of Internal Affairs, Rosgvardia, and other departments will continue operating as before. We will deal with those who destroy Russian soldiers. And we will return to the frontline. Justice in the Army will be restored. And after this, justice for the whole of Russia."
 

Well one party considers the action to be a Special Military Operation.
Therefor I see no hold up with membership for Ukraine.

Well one party considers the action to be a Special Military Operation.
Therefor I see no hold up with membership for Ukraine.

Well one party considers the action to be a Special Military Operation.
Therefor I see no hold up with membership for Ukraine.

They are too bunched up. Too close together. Something is not quite right.

He is on the right side of this crisis.
It's the best money we've ever spent," apparently in reference to U.S. aid to help Ukraine fight Russia in general. And after some back-and-forth with Zelenskyy, he said, "And the Russians are dying."
Graham speaking to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during a visit to the country on May 26.

Draftee trooper 
No training
Sent to front
Unit (sounded like 12-30 people) basically wiped out, trooper captured and let go.

Cracks....appear.
https://twitter.com/KremlinTrolls/status/1662367674834251777?t=vgo6ruO0zMRzD5Qf_lcRvg&s=19

Cracks....appear.
https://twitter.com/KremlinTrolls/status/1662367674834251777?t=vgo6ruO0zMRzD5Qf_lcRvg&s=19

Blame shift, elites are the issue. Now go grab their wealth. He is still protecting Putin.

Ukraine MOD has done a pretty good job of keeping its card players holding their hands. This Belgorod situation strikes me as part of a much bigger plan than just the vaunted counter offensive. Surely those in the know must have something cooking, and I think it to be one of turning the wolves loose on Putin himself.
The action, the timing, THE place, and especially the force makeup, I think turns the tables as it now forces Putin to react to the political reality of fighting not only his deputies, but now his "country men" themselves.

It's getting complicated.
 

It's getting complicated.
 

It's getting complicated.
 

It's getting complicated.
 

It's getting complicated.