mtutiger

OTOH, I can see someone in Putin's position intimidating his advisors into being sycophantic and telling him what he wants to hear. Lest they get the Skripal treatment. It's also a long running theme in dictatorships and sometimes a reason for their demise... they hear what they want to hear, not what they need to hear.

First SOTU that I have watched in a long time, mostly because of current events... and came away thinking it was one of Biden's better speeches as President. The backdrop of Ukraine helped in that it allowed more a of a unified front than these speeches usually give off.

Got some inside info

👀

Yet another reminder of how much different the world looks one week on.

At a minimum, assuming they do ultimately take the country, they will have to conduct a long term and costly occupation to support whatever puppet government they install... because the moment they leave, that government is at risk of falling. I really don't get why this was such a hard thing to grasp ahead of this invasion. What percentage speak Russian, or even whether they have voted for Pro-Russian candidates in the past, isn't necessarily synonymous with the percentage who would support their country being invaded by Russia. Or be supportive of a Russian puppet leadership. Putin clearly got high off his own supply in this regard. But a lot of outside observers did as well.

This is a good reality check. Still a lot on the line going forward

Another 'wow' moment

"Nice city ya got there... be a shame if this space station landed on it"

lol

Wow.

Yep. A lot of Putin's fate lies in domestic internal politics, but it would seem that Xi has a lot of cards here... with how isolated Putin's government is, a move away from Russia by China would be the end of Putin

It's not just the people in the streets, It's people in the chain of command. Somebody would have to ultimately push that button. It's probably more saber rattling than anything else, but obviously it's very concerning nonetheless.

He raised readiness of their deterrence forces (ie. Nukes). I dont think it will go in that direction, but he's threatening and wants the Ukranians/west to waver. Scary as it is, it telegraphs weakness. Not strength

Putin's comments this morning can be taken as an acknowledgement that this engagement is not going according to plan and that Russia very well could end up losing.