larry johnson with ukie musings;

George Kennan must be rolling over in his grave in light of the 19 May article in Foreign Policy journal, written by Michael Klimmage, director of the Kennan Institute at the Wilson Center in Washington. Here is a classic example of an academic who learned to speak Russian, but does not understand a damn thing about Russia. Klimmage is caught in a Cold War time warp, and insists that Putin is a diehard commie intent on world revolution.

Here are three salient paragraphs from his article that tell you everything you need to know about the delusional thinking of this poor man:

But for Russia, Ukraine is not Syria, and it is not Georgia. Syria was a far-away adventure where Russia’s retreat can be swept under the carpet. Georgia is stuck in a holding pattern, vacillating between Russia and the West, which is no disaster for Moscow—whereas Ukraine is a disaster for Moscow. In Ukraine, Russia’s military is stalled while deaths and casualties mount. Putin has no way out of the war—other than to admit a version of defeat. The Kremlin can try to hide the war’s misery from Russians but only to the extent that it can tell the war’s story. Putin cannot as effectively erase evidence of a faltering economy. Nor can he offer Russians any coherent political promise other than endless Putinism. Slowly and not yet suddenly, Russia is starting to lose the war. . . ......more........