Kazakh President Refuses to Speak Russia with Putin
Oh, how things have changed for Putin and Russia since he decided to invade Ukraine
The day before, Vladimir Putin hit his head and came up with the “good idea” to invade Ukraine, I was ice skating at a lovely outdoor rink near a repurposed port in St. Petersburg, Russia. With the Gulf of Finland looming vast, icy, and white over my shoulder, each tour around the rink presented me with a magical view of winter at its finest. I love winter. I love snow.
The next day happened, and it will soon be 730 “next days” since. Hundreds of thousands in Ukraine and Russia are dead for no reason whatsoever but to appease the caprice of a sick and greedy old man. When Putin launched what was supposed to be a three-day jaunt into Kyiv, Russia was considered a serious regional power controlling much of the “near abroad,” as the former Soviet Union is called, and a leading power in the world.
Month by month, however, Russia’s military has been proven to be a paper tiger. The officer corps is a mess of incompetency and cowards. Russian soldiers demonstrate little more in the way of professional…