Unforeseen Contingencies

Alexander Motyl has an interesting analysis of likely troop requirements should Russia try to occupy some or all of Ukraine.  It is not promising for Russia.  If Putin cares about this, maybe I'm wrong in my predictions.  I still don't think so.

Anders Fogh Rasmussen, Secretary General of NATO, has a fairly perceptive analysis of Russia's behavior.  It's a pity he has to conclude with a call for the primary culprit to voluntarily de-escalate.  But so far, the West appears to be interested only in marginal responses, so Rasmussen can do little else.  NATO also has a useful fact sheet dispelling the lies Putin and Lavrov tell about NATO and Ukraine.

One of my current students has just sent me this excellent State Department fact sheet that refutes ten Russian myths about the current situation in Ukraine.  Of course, it's worth reiterating that these aren't honest misunderstandings but intentional disinformation concocted in the Kremlin.  (Thanks, Ashley!)

Yuriy Gorodnichenko, economist at UC Berkeley (and one of my former students in Kyiv) compares George Kennan's analysis of the USSR with Russian behavior under Putin.  It's not very reassuring.

Also from VoxUkraine, Kateryna Dronova of UC Berkeley gives an excellent analysis of language in Ukraine and explodes the lie that the Russian language is under any sort of assault (one Putin's most absurd claims).

And a Belarussian opponent of Lukashenka says Putin is contemplating attacking Ukraine from Belarus as well, with Lukashenka's help.  If so, may Putin's forces get stuck -- permanently -- in the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone.

Photo: from Pussy Riot's protest of a couple of years ago.  Incidentally, a number of You Tube videos critical of Russia and Putinism seem to suddenly be unavailable.