Six minutes that speak worlds. In Russian, on state-owned TV, with subtitles.
As the Times explained:
A military analyst on one of Russian state television’s most popular networks left his fellow panelists in stunned silence on Monday when he said that the conflict in Ukraine was deteriorating for Russia, giving the kind of honest assessment that is virtually banished from the official airwaves.
“The situation for us will clearly get worse,” Mikhail M. Khodaryonok, a retired colonel and a conservative columnist on military affairs, said during the “60 Minutes” talk-show program on the Rossiya network.
It was a rare moment of frank analysis in a country where criticizing the war effort can result in a prison sentence and broadcasters have generally adhered to the Kremlin’s talking points. . . .
Part of what’s interesting, I think, is how sincere the moderator seems to be in pushing back. She seems genuinely to have bought Putin’s false narrative.
But Ukraine is winning.
Putin is losing.
NATO, reinvigorated, is stronger than ever.
And President Biden has quietly and carefully done a great deal to make all that happen.
It’s worth remembering that the only change Trump made to the 2016 Republican platform was to weaken support for Ukraine. It seemed bizarre at the time — why that, of all things? Of what relevance to our lives would Ukraine ever be?
It’s fair to say that in 2016 Ukraine was on few minds in the U.S. — but very much on the mind of Vladimir Putin.
(Worth remembering, too: Trump’s first impeachment was over withholding Congressionally-appropriated military aid to Ukraine in pursuit of political advantage. The idea to do that likely came from Putin.)
I bought some CMRX yesterday with money I could truly afford to lose.
