The Beast is loose....

 

  There have been a series of videos of Russian soldiers who have either surrendered or been captured.  The ones in the videos--perhaps chosen because of their willingness to 'confess'--are contrite in the extreme, ashamed, scared, confused, apologetic and clearly did not want any part of being there.

  Meanwhile, out on the Ukrainian land, other Russian soldiers are behaving like the World War II SS Einsatzgruppen who roamed the eastern European landscape rounding up Jews and anybody who caught their attention, taking them into the forest and shooting them over trenches. I have yet to see any pundit or reporter give an explanation for why these troops are behaving like monsters.  In fact, perhaps they are worse than the SS, because they are apparently also murdering people for  the enjoyment of it.  Many of their victims have been found--especially in Bucha--with their hands tied behind their backs, signs of torture and then shot in the head.  There are nightmare stories that are coming out, for example mothers raped and then murdered in front of their children.

  Russian troops are committing wholesale war crimes...and, the entire planet is watching them do so.

 We have been offered no explanation to help us understand this carnage.  Do the Russians really hate the Ukrainians so much that they feel the need to treat them this way?  I've never heard that this was the case.  Are these beastly soldiers acting on orders from their commanders?  Or are they so loosely disciplined that they can do this sort of thing and not be held accountable?

  In the end, no matter what other exacerbating factors exist, responsibility lies at the feet of their commander, Vladimir Putin.  Whether or not he's fully aware of it, he is creating a stark legacy for himself.  The world is not willing to stand by and do nothing as he pursues this campaign of death, suffering and utter destruction.  Have you wondered what use Mariupol will be to its 'conquerors'?  The Russian missiles, artillery, air power, have pounded it into piles of rubble.  It looks as bad as any of the cities that fell under the bombs of the Eighth and Fifteenth Air Forces, during the strategic bombing of Germany....maybe worse than many of them. 

  So, Mariupol finally surrenders at some point, and who can blame them.  But, of what future use is this pile of rubble?  This city of about 440,000 will need to be re-built from the ground up.  Are the Russians willing to do that?  I have my doubts.

  Vladimir Putin is losing.  He may think he's accomplishing what he set out to accomplish, but that is only because he is being soft-soaped by his advisers and generals.  There seems to be a general agreement among his former advisers and confidants that it's a very touchy thing to tell Vladimir what he does NOT want to hear....could cost you dearly. And He is putting the Russian economy on very shaky ground, to the point of possible collapse.  He is determined to re-establish the Russian state as one of the world's great super-powers, take it back to Stalinist days and strut like a bully on the world stage, all the while threatening to initiate a world ending nuclear holocaust if anybody stands up to him.

Headed for a comeuppance......oh, it will come

  He's a little banty rooster who is so mentally incapacitated that he really thinks he can pull it off.  But, if the performance of his vaunted armed forces over the last six weeks is any indication, he CANNOT.  From my time in the infantry I know first-hand  that the quality often referred to as, "Esprit de Corps" is the critical ingredient in a military fighting unit.  Without a 'Gung Ho' willingness to get the job done, a unit will behave exactly the way the Russians are in Ukraine.  They are even making this lack of discipline and fighting spirit worse by devolving into something resembling Viking raiders of the distant past.  Looting, raping, pillaging are what soldiers do when they sense that their commanders don't care, and haven't got the stones to control their troops.

  And, the world is watching.  There are a lot of bad directions that this could go....and, really only one direction that would be desirable....the Russians retreat and stop inflicting this nightmare on their neighbors.  But, that is very possibly the one direction that ol' Vlad cannot countenance.

  That is just who he is.

  And, he needs to be euthanized as soon as his sycophants find their balls.