putin is the wild card in all of our futures. the question is whose side is he on, if it ain't his. i suspect its his side and russia's. it seems to me that there was a nostradamus prediction that had russia saving the world and i pin my hopes on that. we are witnessing the greatest game in world history every day;

Vladimir Putin has become the pivotal figure of the 21st century. Of that there is no doubt. The size and breadth of the ground operation in Ukraine, despite some mistakes, has been impressive.

Before I go any farther I want to make sure that we’re clear. While the situation seems to be moving decidedly in Russia’s favor, I am willing to remain reasonably skeptical of all the reports I’ve seen so far.

The slowdown in the information flow over the past few days has been as impressive as the stated gains of the Russian military in Ukraine over that same timeframe.

Since what I’ve been seeing is repetition and amplification of the same maps and sources, nothing should be taken for granted about the outcomes in Ukraine for Putin and Russia. That said, let’s not get carried away in thinking the Ukrainian army is putting up much of a fight here, because they are not.

Bill Roggio’s article from the Times of London somehow made it through the media blackout on nearly all things moderately Russia-positive and lays things out for the normies in the audience.

Sympathy for the outnumbered and outgunned defenders of Kyiv has led to the exaggeration of Russian setbacks, misunderstanding of Russian strategy, and even baseless claims from amateur psychoanalysts that Putin has lost his mind.

A more sober analysis shows that Russia may have sought a knockout blow, but always had well-laid plans for follow-on assaults if its initial moves proved insufficient.

The world has underestimated Putin before and those mistakes have led, in part, to this tragedy in Ukraine........read more........