12 Comments

Your analysis is well done.

Ukraine needs to control the sky. Ukraine desperately needs anti-Missiles weapons to stop the shelling and bombing by the Russians and western airplanes like the F16 and the A10 to drive out the Russians and retake the lost territory. I hope the Russians depose Putin soon. Glory to Ukraine and its Heroes!!

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Sep 15, 2022Liked by Diane Francis

Nice to see Russia flounder.

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Putin’s “withdrawal” created 7,000 more POW (more on the way?) who each become a You Tube radio station in “Geneva” conditions.

Kazaks are mostly Russian speaking and have a Caspian seabed full of oil that currently transits Russia but could be diverted. Russians are beginning to feel economic pain. Russian battlefield morale is low and can be encouraged via their cell phones. China, who depends on Western purchases seems unfriendly.

Those radio stations will be heard and are magnified via social media.

Small nukes can wipe out a city. Despots can be destroyed by Media.

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VERY insightful and beautifully written

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Central Asia. Such a resource rich area, but as the article points out so well, it is a transportation corridor. I suspect Putin is finding his leadership is being questioned by many in his own country. They must consider their Country and its citizens post Ukraine. I don’t see an easy exit for Putin, so others will help him do that. Russia is not one man. Time to develop a strategy to remove their leader while they still have some ability to negotiate with other countries (their customers). In two years, other energy supplies will be delivering to Europe allowing them to not need to talk to Gazprom

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Do you think it possible/likely that an increasingly desperate Putin will use chemical/biological and/or nuclear weapons in Ukraine?

If so, what comes after something like that???

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author

yes, I've referred to that in my last newsletter but only he knows...

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That is my concern. If Putin goes down that road, which I certainly wouldn't put past him, I don't know that the NATO countries would have any choice but to get involved militarily. And, if that happens, all bets are off. It's World War III.

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author

yup

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My sense is that before we reach that stage . . . Russia's military in Ukraine will have collapsed in the field . . . All the Russian generals, to save face, will turn on Putin and put an end to the 'Disgrace to Russia' by deposing him. Russia's 'Shame' on the battlefield has NOT gone un-noticed in Russia . . . Putin, alone, bears the blame !

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Ukraine will likely go back into Boiling the Frog mode again. It will take the time to increase anti missile defenses to stop the terror attacks and gather intel on the latest Russian placements. Russia will decompress from its current bellicose stature and start whistling past the graveyard again.

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