Ipso Fatso

<< And you do this by decimating the civilian population? >>

I’m not condoning war, but we do need to maintain some perspective here. Yes, many Ukrainians have suffered, but they have not been decimated. Many have been able to leave the country or find underground shelter. The Russian assault has largely been confined to military and neo-Nazi targets. Yes, there have been civilian casualties, but it has not been the all-encompassing slaughter it's often portrayed as in the Western media. Atrocities have been committed by the Ukrainian fighters, which we're not told about. And many Ukrainians have put themselves in harm’s way by taking up arms, again something we're rarely reminded of.

Western media uncritically parrots what is fed to it by the Ukrainian government, which is churning out a steady and sophisticated public relations campaign aimed at massaging the truth and gaining military support. Behind this PR effort is an army of foreign political strategists, Washington lobbyists and a network of intelligence-linked media outlets. According to one Ukrainian PR firm, more than 150 such firms have joined the propaganda blitz. The carefully stage-managed photo ops Zelensky orchestrates daily are deliberately feeding us Ukraine’s version of the truth. We need to be aware of this and balance our understanding through accessing other sources as well.

Fester

<< What you don't see Bronwyn is that the economic failure of Russia is a result of the autocratic cleptocracy running the show in Russia ... >>

Russia is no more an economic failure than any other country with huge wealth disparities. The wealth and political power of American billionaires and trillionaires dwarfs that of Russia’s. Nine out of ten of the world’s richest men live in the US. They make about the same in a single minute as the average American household earns in an entire year. The US is every bit as much of an oligarchy as Russia, if not more so. Never before in American history have so few owned so much. And as a result of this minority bilking of the national wealth, almost fifty million Americans live below the poverty line. Australia is following the same trend. It’s a bit rich to accuse Russia of cleptocracy when our own economies are so far removed from being fair and democratic.

<< Oh, and aside from the brutality and war crimes, spot the difference between "Vlad's Army" and "Dad's Army". Can you? I can’t. >>

The US Pentagon assesses that the Russian forces still retain nearly ninety percent of their initial combat power, so no, your Dad’s Army comparison is not valid. And as for the war crimes, they’re allegedly being committed by both sides. Let’s wait until due process decides whether or not the Russians have committed war crimes. Perhaps that can be done after the ICC has looked at the US atrocities committed in Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya.

" The Russian assault has largely been confined to military and neo-Nazi targets. "

Mariupol??

"Russia is no more an economic failure than any other country with huge wealth disparities. The wealth and political power of American billionaires and trillionaires dwarfs that of Russia’s. "

Translation....Russia isn't a failed economy because.....oh look over there.

As I said in another thread, Russia is a third world country with first world weapons (although after the past few weeks even its weapons are in doubt.)

Using the poverty line to compare countries displays either a desire to deceive or a lack of understanding. Yes, about 15% of USians live on or below the poverty line (its designed that way). But that's the US poverty line, not the Russian one. The standard of living of those on the poverty in the US would place them in the top quartile in Russia in terms of standard of living.

Ponder this. Why are people desperate to immigrate to the US but desperate to emigrate from Russia. The climate?

I've been to both nations. Russia, outside the few major cities is decrepit, run down and depressing. My father-in-law, a lifelong Marxist visited Russia in 1995 and came back a firm supporter of Reaganism.

Irrespective of what happens in the war from here on in, Russia has lost. Their military is now seen to be a paper tiger; Europe has been shocked into action with Germany now allocating funding that will make them the third biggest military in the world by 2027; Russia has lost all hope of winning the hearts and minds of Ukrainians even if they do conquer the place.

When Trump said Putin's recognition of the independence of the Donbass states was a genius move, he was right. It was. But everything after that has been a disaster for Putin and the Rus people. Its hard to believe it can get worse, but it will.

With a population of 144 million, Russia's economy is only about the size of Australia's.

Bronwyn,

My own view is that in Russia the Nazi terror of the second world is exploited by the autocracy to keep it safe from becoming a liberal democracy. I suspect that Putin and his henchmen thought Ukraine easy pickings and were looking forward to looting its riches.

In the same way, I think that lack of social support in the USA relates to some politicians equating such policies to communism.

Per capita GDP in the USA is three times that of Russia. I think Biden a crook, but he doesn't have a 700 million dollar super yacht and 100 billion dollars stashed away. I think that using the Russian cleptocrat's loot to rebuild Ukraine a good idea, especially as they keep their loot a secret from the Russian people.

The Pentagon estimate was a bit under 90% after four weeks. That is a conservative estimate. I suspect that after six weeks over 20% of the Russian force has been destroyed, but even a ten percent loss every four weeks in unsustainable, and with the flow of armaments to the Ukranians the rate of destruction of the Russian army could well accelerate. To put the rate of attrition in perspective, the German army had bit over 40% of its soldiers killed or missing in WWII (<1% per month attrition). Russia could see over 10% of its invading force killed in less than two months (>5% per month attrition).