Former Czech MI Chief Interview
 

Thought it might be of interest to get the take on a regional back & forth that continues to take place in the NATO vs. Russia world. The Czechs have, perhaps, been awakened again with the publication of a report linking Russian operatives to the 2014 explosion at a munitions plant; 2 dead but billions in their currency lost. They've been also playing the usual diplomatic game of expelling each other's reps, but they also have taken the step of explicitly excluding Russian power provider Rosatom from being able to bid on a nuclear power expansion in CZ.

Direct link to the interview here.

General Foreign Policy page of Radio Prague here, for some related perspectives.

Seems that BG A.D. Preston agrees (with a big check attached):

Grabbed 4 pages with Screenshot Capture.. :munchin

:D

Thanks, JJ! When the issue came out, the COL ferreted out the Chiefs' burrow and asked him to autograph it. :D

Prediction: imo, Putin is going to invade, and even money on China acting on its long term goal. Two different AO, Two superpowers acting in concert, the world will change overnight and there is nothing that the west can do to prevent this strategic move.
The west is not in a position after 20 years in SWA and the ME. to stop anything.

I wonder if General Milley has made any phone calls to our enemies to ensure them that we are NOT going to attack or start a war...
...after all, he HAS done it before.

This is the perfect time for Peter Doocy at Fox to ask that very question.

Well, if he asked Biden, he’d just call him, “a stupid son of a bitch!” (AGAIN)

[Nothing like bringing civility back to the White House and treating people with respect. Joe should “fire” himself “on the spot!” (His words not mine)

Couple of interesting "takes"
 

Here is a read of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's response to the communication sent to him by the US. Some juicy tidbits, there is also a full link to FM Lavrov's website with his full discussion, interview style. The US communication was provided to the rest of NATO and Ukraine and probably Mr. Ed & Wilbur so he has no illusions it will remain "confidential" - but this is a sharp guy & worth listening to given that he's seen & survived a lot. He also (inconveniently for the west) brings up that old outdated notion that if you break a part of an international treaty or agreement, then the whole thing is rendered moot. Which, if I recall, as been international protocol since... ever. (Barristers please correct me if I'm wrong.)

Second up is a short missive by a regular blogger making the case to give "time" some time (to work).

Magic 8 ball says
 

Russia will mass up but will NOT invade, but the administration has an interest in fear mongering about this, and they will claim "he kept us out of war". Where have I heard THAT before.:mad:

If this is borne out, it's one of those "Bobby Lee stole a march on General Grant" type things.
---------------
Putin splits NATO and cuts out Biden: Russian president agrees to hold talks with Germany, France and Ukraine as squabbling NATO countries fail to decide joint troop deployment and Joe says he'll go it alone

Russian President Vladimir Putin has agreed to meet with Germany, France and Ukraine over the Ukraine-Russian border crisis
The European-led talk, which will be held in two weeks in Berlin, is said to focus on ''de-escalation' and excludes NATO and the US

:munchin

Putin is a lot of things, but he's not stupid.

Biden is a lot of things, as well as being stupid.

Don't let this senile, dementia-addled pedophile push us into a war that even Ukraine is saying isn't going to happen.

Ukraine news source
 

Just a link that seems to have a decent assortment of news (in English).
Some may find it worth perusing. Being mainstream Ukraine they do seem to have a slight bent toward the "why in the world would Russia blame the west for all this turmoil?" in some of their writing. But there are some decent general interest articles as well.

https://www.kyivpost.com/

:munchin

p.s. One thing I noticed. They solicit the reader to highlight a misspelled English word and hit a key-sequence to report it. American online journals wouldn't dare do that.
:D

One point to demonstrate how woefully unprepared we are to confront this single threat.

The Russkies appear to have between nine and eleven divisions of troops around Ukrainian borders. These are mostly heavy divisions with a lot of armor.

That is more combat power than we have in our entire active military. As we used to say, quantity has a quality all its own.

We went from forward deployed forces configured to fight and win two major simultaneous conflicts to one that has largely been focused on counter-insurgency for the last 20 years, and appears to now be focused on feelings.

Stand by, this one (and potentially a second one courtesy of the Chinese) could leave a mark.

TR