I won’t pretend that Ukraine has any realistic chance of actually defeating Russia on the battlefield. I can read reports as well as anyone and I am aware of how the Russian forces are advancing on the Ukrainian capital city.
It won’t be an easy conquest. It will be bloody, and it will cost a lot of Russian lives along with Ukrainian lives.
Whether the Russians form a pro-Moscow puppet government in Kyiv remains to be determined. Whatever the outcome, I am sure that President Biden will only tighten the screws even more on the Russian economy, which isn’t any great shakes, even with all that oil that Russia produces.
Are we going to continue to pay more for fuel? You bet we are. I am convincing myself today and likely longer into the future that this is going to become another “new normal.” We had better prepare for paying more to fuel our motor vehicles, heat our homes and light our backyard grills.
Vladimir Putin, the monster who runs Russia, likely will win the battle on the field. He won’t win any hearts of anyone who believes as I do that he is an abhorrent aggressor. Yes, he has his friends in dark states such as North Korea, Syria and Belarus.
I do not expect Putin and President Biden ever will meet to talk about mutual trade agreements or even to discuss arms control. The die is cast and Putin has acted as a man with no conscience. He is a heartless killer who has earned our eternal scorn.