The Ukrainian government is issuing AK47s to private citizens to defend their country against the massive Russian invasion,

Both times I visited Switzerland, I was taken on tours by military personnel. They showed me the passes that are mined and ready to be detonated as soon as invading tanks begin to move in.  They showed me the rifle ranges on which every male of age and a great many women practice high-level marksmanship with the true (selective-fire) assault rifles they are issued by their government.

Any wonder why the Swiss have maintained their neutrality for lo, these many years?  When every citizen you would subjugate is armed and probably a better shot than most of your troops, you become the sort of target that makes enemy generals and tyrants wake up screaming from their nightmares, in a cold sweat.

There is a current meme going around: “If you want to know why so many Americans own AR15s and ‘high capacity’ magazines, read your newspaper or turn on your local news channel.”

How many of those brave Ukrainians will have been trained with the AKs they’ve been issued? It’s a little late now…

… but better late than never.

update: SAF is urging our support of the Ukrainians: https://www.saf.org/saf-urges-support-of-zbroya-the-ukranian-gun-owners-assn/

72 COMMENTS

  1. Mas,

    What wonderful opportunities to tour the Swiss defenses twice! I would enjoy that as much as a behind-the-scenes tour of Disney World!

    I enjoy seeing the fighting spirit of the Ukrainians, and I love that their government is handing out weapons, and making Molotov cocktails legal. However, I remember Colonel Cooper saying that airline pilots should not be forced to be armed against their will. I can’t help but wonder if giving Kalashnikovs to untrained people, who will soon be using them in highly stressful situations, might be a bad idea. An untrained person with a gun may be a danger to themselves and any other friendlies who might be near them. “Friendly fire” is a problem even for professionals. Oh well. It’s nice to see a government trusting their people with weapons. But, like you wrote, they should have done that long ago, like the USA and Switzerland have done. It takes time to acquire skill, and I’m sure most people are nervous as hell the first time they find themselves in combat. Imagine finding yourself in combat for the first time, with only minimal training! Yikes!

    • I rather think it is mot s much anewfound trust as a move of desparation. If they don’t hand ut the tools, they are certain to losecontrol. If they do, now at least it mght be a coin toss.

      Truth, they SHOULD have begun trusting and trainin, gback in 2014 when the present regime was installed in the ke of the US backed coup that removed their former government.

  2. No disrespect but I believe these Ukranians receiving AKs have handled firearms plenty. Unfortunately, this ain’t their first rodeo.

    • Jeff,

      I hope you are right. If they have plenty of experience with firearms, then they must own some of their own firearms. Scoped hunting rifles would come in handy about now. Also, anyone who owns guns knows enough to stockpile ammo to feed those guns. The government should not even need to hand out AKs if these people have experience.

      Is it possible to have experience with firearms, yet not own any? Yes, but how skillful can a shooter be who only shoots borrowed weapons?

  3. Other than their airborne & special operations forces, it appears that the majority of the Russian infantry are poorly trained conscripts who don’t know why they are fighting or where they are. I hope that the US trainers taught the Ukrainians useful skills & not diversity & gender equity. Now would be the time for stay behind teams to hit the Russian logistics trains & troop convoys. This is a fight for the survival of their country & the Ukrainians need to be utterly ruthless. I love that their president said “I need ammunition, not a ride.” Are you listening Brandon, you draft-dodging senile old fool? If the examples of Great Britain, Canada & Australia were not enough, this should remind everyone to never give up your guns.

    • Never giving up my arms was firmly established long before I began acquiring them. At least it was legal to do so when I started. How much longer they will remain legal remains to be seen.

  4. It’s surprising to me that the Ukrainian military hadn’t mined the roads and blown the bridges. There must have been choke spots that would keep the Russian invaders from shooting down the highway unabated to Kyiv. I’m glad to see that the Ukrainians are making a stand, but why oh why did they let them get so close so easily?

    • Those moves would have been useful, but the Ukraine is mostly flat tank country. The nation of Ukraine needs anti tank and anti aircraft missiles. Plus a lot of guns and ammunition. It appears the people of The Ukraine have not lost their spirit from WW II. I suspect a good number of Ukrainians would prefer to not be ruled by the people that starved to death so many of their relatives in the 1920’s. Hats off to Prem. Zelenskyy: [paraphrase] “I need ammunition not a ride.” How could our president have offered a ride? Scheech!

      • Hey, don’t speak badly about our beloved Dear Leader! Crooked Joe has generously offered to ship the Ukrainian president several gallons of chocolate ice cream. Even our benevolent Nancy Pelosi has promised to send Zelenskyy a few containers of highly prized $20 premium ice cream from her personal supply.

      • Paul,

        You actually admire Zelenskyy because he chooses to remain and fight with his people, unlike so many other leaders who fly away to safer places? I think Zelenskyy is crazy. Putin is sending mercenaries to hunt him down and kill him.
        I admire Joe Biden, who likes to hide from viruses in his basement in safe Delaware. During a war, I’m sure the Secret Service will hide Joe deep under Cheyenne Mountain, where he will be safe from incoming fire.

        I think it is better to live on your knees, than die on your feet. Today’s dictators aren’t like the cruel men of yesteryear. They will put fur-lined, plastic shackles on us, which will rest easy on our wrists. Today’s dictators have happy faces, not instruments of torture. Living under their slippers (not boots) will be a pleasure, as long as they allow us to play computer games on go on Facebook.

        But seriously, I wish someone would send a swarm of drones to get Putin.

      • Roger, how much do you want to bet that Crooked Joe has already instructed his handlers to stock the bunker under Cheyenne Mountain with dozens of 55 gallon drums of his favorite chocolate ice cream. Pelosi has a huge supply of her own expensive designer ice cream stored there, along with her gallons of Botox, right next to the Star Gate, which as shown on the TV series is located under Cheyenne Mountain too.

  5. When you’re defending your home territory, it is better to have a ‘gun behind every blade of grass…..’
    Just too bad they are entirely on their own after being promised protection.

    MAS – looking forward to your opinion on the Remington ‘settlement’.

  6. I agree, and fyi the Armed Pilot program was voluntary using our own vacation time and unpaid service. The deterrence value has been obvious

  7. Amen, said the same thing to my wife this AM. Every democracy in the world should be like Switzerland. Do it for the kids.

  8. It is too little too late. At least it’s an AK which is much simpler than an AR. I suspect many people are picking up the AK from police stations to store (hide) in their house for the oncoming occupation and the usual lawlessness that comes with it. The occupation force will not prioritize crime that has nothing to do with insurgency.

    IMO, an untrained individual opposing a trained and professional invading force on the battlefield is akin to suicide. Better to join the insurgency. YMMV.

    • TW,

      Sun Tzu taught to avoid strength and strike at weakness. I’ve been fantasizing about how I would confront an enemy tank successfully. My conclusion is to not engage it.

      • Roger, hit a tank from above or below. Modern main battle tanks (MBTs) have over a foot of composite armor in the front of their hulls and turret, making them nearly invulnerable to most handheld weapons. However there’s only about an inch of armor on the top of the turret and a shaped charge will easily penetrate it and cook everyone inside. There are portable anti-armor weapons designed to fly over a tank and fire it’s charge downwards instead of forward like other missiles/rockets which all use a chemical based warhead. Kinetic penetrating rounds require a large caliber cannon which can only be transported by a heavy vehicle or tank.

      • Roger Willco, abundant Javelin and Tow II-type anti-armor weapons and Stinger anti-aircraft missiles would make life difficult for Russian forces. NATO air power and cruise missiles can be decisive. Putin will have to be actively stopped sooner or later.

      • Tom606 and Strategic Steve,

        You are correct, of course. I was thinking pretty low-tech, and citizen militia-style fighting. I saw myself going on top of a tank with a Molotov cocktail, opening the hatch, and throwing it in there. Then, sitting on top of the hatch so the enemy could not exit. However, I doubt that a tank crew would be dumb enough to leave the hatch unlocked. Maybe a Molotov cocktail could damage the radiator on the back of the tank. Do Abrams tanks even have radiators? Aren’t they turbine driven?

        A retired Army guy told me you could place things in the way of tanks to block their movements, like maybe a truck. But, I imagine a tank could shoot and blow up whatever is in its way.

        During the WWII battle of Stalingrad, there is an interesting story of how tanks were stopped. Some Russians hauled an artillery piece onto the top of a tall building. German panzers drove down the road toward the building, but their main cannon could not elevate high enough to hit the artillery piece. The Russians fired the gun down onto the tank, and that ruined tank would block the road.

        As you guys wrote, it requires more than small arms to stop a tank. Without being properly equipped, I would have to run away and fight another day.

      • Roger, during WW II, the Russians trained dogs carrying explosives to run under German tanks to blow them up. Clever but cruel, as many Soviets were.

        Abrams tanks have 1500 HP gas turbine engines which are of course air cooled and don’t need radiators, but do require lots of jet fuel and air filters.

        The best way to disable a tank without an anti-armor weapon is to damage the tracks or engine. A homemade shaped charge bomb could be dropped on the tank from a building or could be buried in it’s path to explode underneath it where the hull is thin. If one is daring and there’s only a single tank, one can climb on it and using a portable torch, weld the hatches shut, then set the vehicle on fire and roast the guys inside.

        Personally, I would make friends with The Hulk and ask him to simply tear the turret off the tank and smash everyone inside.

  9. The other eastern European countries should immediately change the law so that any citizen with a clean record is a allowed to own firearms, preferably without serial numbers, with no registration required and all registration lists destroyed.

    Not in the pretense that armed citizens could stop the Russian Army, to to ensure that no country will be able to tolerate the maintenance of a hostile occupation due to the constant threat and incidence of assassination.

    A side benefit will be appreciation for America’s 2nd Amendment.

    A third benefit is that some of these guns will leak to criminals in central and western European countries, thus making obvious the ineffectiveness of those nation’s gun control laws.

    • As a CZ (Czech Republic) citizen
      * We can (and many do) own a firearm etc.
      * Permitted persons – clean record, more than 21yo, passes test (mainly law and first aid), passes practical exam focused mainly on very basic skill and safety, medical check – some (mostly mental) illnesses disqualify you
      * Full auto are (almost) prohibited to be owned by civilians.
      * registration (electronic now) in place (unfortunately), so government and potentially attacker has records who is permitted to own a firearm and what firearms (s)he owns. It is historical issue and It caused confiscation at the beginning ow WWII already.
      * some attempts from EU to ban high capacity mags, firearms that looks like military ones, … blah blahblah huge heap of bullshit

    • I understand Hungary fril recently made it”legal” for her peole to be armed, at their own discretion. This, to the howlsof “protest” from our own nation’s gungrabbers. To which all I say “good on ’em” to the people of Hungary. I vaguely rmember seeing something similar being considered in Poland. The general gooberment of the EU came out agaisnt such moves. Wonder why……??

  10. Mas, I’m unsure, but I think UK has or used to have a mandatory military service/training for young men as we used to have in Czechoslovakia. So maybe at least some civilians aren’t completely untrained.

    • It did. It was called National Service. Unfotunately it was abandoned: no one born after 1939 was eligible for it. So those who benefited from it are now knockin’ on a bit, as we say.

      On the other hand there are a fair few ex-servicemen, former cadets and civilian shooters who could both shoot and train others. The problem then is availability of weapons…

      • My fault, so let me correct it, as it was reply to Mas’s question how many ukrainian are trained to use AKs they are issued.
        * I used wrong abbreviation I meant UA as Ukraine
        * Meanwhile I’ve got confirmation, that mandatory service is sill in place in UA, so there is very probably higher percentage of people knowing how to handle a gun than in US, and answer is “almost all of them”.
        * IMHO good move from EU sending aircrafts and other military material of the same type as UA already has, so there won’t be need of additional training.

  11. If you haven’t read the book by David Kopel you should make an effort to get a copy. The title is The Samurai,The Mountie, and The Cowboy. The book will give you an insite on how other Democracies handle gun control laws compared to the USA. Very eye opening.

  12. Imagine in the Ukraine thousands of hog hunters with their ARs and .308s sniping any Ruskie that dares to raise his head…But that will never be. Why? The Ukraine restricts guns severely.

    They are not a NATION of RIFLEMEN. Like most of the world there is no 2nd Amendment… they don’t get to own what we own. Shoot like we shoot. They don’t get so familiar with their rifles they can pick off critters way off… or Ruskies!

    Yes, they are being handed out AKs to fight.. but how many of them own their own? How many of them get to shoot when they want, hunt, reload, shoot matches…. just being handed a AK does not make you a fighter… nor a good shot. I doubt many of them know if their rifle is sighted in right or not.

    Be thankful folks. Here in the USA we have our guns… and if the Ukrainians can hold out this long against Putin’s armies imagine what we could do HERE if our government becomes tyrannical.

    For, you see, Biden said you needed F-15s and nukes to fight the government… well apparently you don’t….

    • Deaf Smith,

      AMEN! Recent decades have shown that small nations can resist and even triumph over big nations. Fighting Spirit + Guerrilla Warfare = Victory. In the 1940s, Vietnam successfully pushed back the invading Japanese. In the 1950s, Vietnam threw off French colonial rule. I hate to admit it, but in the 1960s Vietnam even prevailed against us, the USA. I guess maybe we won in Iraq, or maybe Iran won there. Not a clear victory for us. After 19 years, we failed to win against sandal-wearing goat herders in Afghanistan. The Soviet Union failed there, and so did the British.

      I think the only way to win a guerrilla war would be to commit genocide. A general like Sherman would have to burn up the guerrillas’ supplies, and every guerrilla would have to be killed or starved to death. I can’t think of anyone winning against guerrillas. Maybe the Second Boer War, in which concentration camps were used.

  14. I know some folks here are politically savvy. I am and I >research< everything presented to us, via "news."

    My comments here are a tad off topic, but something must be mentioned. I am 63 years OLD and I have never seen a time when both sides of main stream media are rooting for the same team. EVER!

    Question: How many world "leaders" are corrupt as *expletitive*, and this includes our own?

    Confiscating the records both, digital and hard copy from the Ukranian offices of finance (and other agencies) regarding very lucrative business deals between these world "leaders" could be of great concern to the CITIZENRY.

    Something else puzzling, why did *biden give the kremlin 16 infrastructure targets to not hit in the US?

    Me thinks, Pelosi, *biden&family, Bush, No-bama, et al., are in some deep state doo-doo.

    As Andrew Branca said in his video, "10 things you probably don't know about the laws of self defense" DVD version, the one thing he mentioned is anything in the MSM is a lie. In all fairness he was referring to lawful deadly force incidents, but still…

    Buckle in folks, it could become a very bumpy ride.

  15. Speaking of The Wild Geese of (former Belgian) Congo fame in the 1960s, it is being reported that the Russians are sending in mercenary hit teams composed of Chechen barbarians and members of The Wagner Group, a private Russian mercenary organization, to hunt down Ukrainian leaders and their families. These Russian mercenaries are a 21st Century version of Genghis Khan’s Mongol horde. They have a track record of committing shocking war crimes wherever they have been deployed, e.g. Syria and selected Sub Saharan African nations. Ukrainian soldiers or citizens who are fighting these amoral mercenaries deployed at Vlad the Invader’s request had better fight to the death to avoid capture at all costs. War is Hell. War involving these aforementioned mercenaries is surely much worse than any Hell most of us could ever imagine. Prayers are needed for the brave people of Ukraine in their epic fight for freedom.

  17. Learning to navigate an AR in combat is work enough and the AK takes even more including physical conditioning. It takes time. Look at the war heroes of WWI and WWII. They learned marksmanship at an early age from their fathers. Like any other skill it takes time, training, and experience to handle firearms well. THAT is why we have a 2nd Amendment. Handing out selective fire munitions at the last minute is like giving a teenager a Ferrari. Yes, they can operate one, but not skillfully.

  18. For a reminder of what Russia is capable of, I suggest watching the 1974 documentary “The World at War.” Finland should be concerned.

    • Heh, we are laughing beasts, reportedly. https://www.quora.com/Why-did-Reinhard-Heydrich-describe-the-Czechs-as-laughing-beasts?share=1
      So one joke about Finland and Russia
      Russia has threatened Finland and Sweden with a military response if it joins NATO. The Finns on Twitter: “There are already tens of thousands of Russian troops in Finland. Along the entire eastern border. About six feet underground.”
      To appreciate it you could read about Simo Hayha https://www.simohayha.com/
      (AFAIK There is still mandatory military training/service in Finland.)

      • If you wish to feel really positive after feeling negative about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, brew a cup of coffee or tea and then spend eighteen minutes and forty eight seconds watching the Finnish Defence Force’s “Battleplan 2020” (with clear English subtitles), an absorbing, compelling video snapshot of how adult Finns from all walks of life are absolutely ready to step up to defend their beloved homeland.

        https://youtu.be/bTmWCbcYwb8

      • Simo, the highest scoring sniper in history with over 600 kills in just a few months and he used only iron sights on his rifle. A good number of his Russian victims were knocked off with a Suomi submachine gun. He was nicknamed The White Death because of his winter camouflage and expert shooting.

  19. A selective fire rifle (true assault rifle) in the hands of every Swiss male aged 18-50! I am shocked, shocked I say, that we don’t read more about all the gun violence and machine-gun crime in Switzerland!
    Even more inexplicable: their overall crime rate is one-half that of the US and their murder rate is one-seventh to one-third that of the US.
    What possible explanation(s) could reconcile these observations? Hmmm….Let us think deeply…Maybe they have outlawed ammunition? No?? Well, maybe they have serial-numbered bullets? Not that either?? Wait, wait! I know: their assault rifles are limited to 10 round magazines! Really? “No” to that too? Golly, gee… I’m stumped.

    • The wise Swiss don’t have a “Gun Show Loophole” and “Cop Killer Bullets” like we have here in America so they have much less crime. 🙂

  20. The formula to defeat a “Super-Power” is as simple as this: Endurance equals Victory.

    This invasion will go in one of two directions. The Russians can cut the country up, in Blitzkrieg fashion, with such “Shock and Awe” that the Ukrainians simply give up and surrender. The result will be a Russian victory and Ukraine (or large parts of it) will become puppet state(s) of Russian.

    The second direction is that the Ukrainians can dig in their heels, continue fighting (even if it means adopting guerrilla warfare tactics) and settle down for the long haul. Other Nations, from around the World, will be happy to sneak in arms and equipment to help them. It would be in their interest since Ukraine would then become a buffer to delay and tie up the Russians for years to come. So, the Ukrainians could likely “Hold on” if (and this is the point) they have the determination.

    As shown in Finland (Winter War), Vietnam and Afghanistan, no “Super-Power” wants to fight an “endless war”. So, if the Ukrainians want to keep their country, they can do it. They can stop a Russian victory and (eventually) send the Russians back home with another major defeat on their books.

    All it takes is determination and endurance. And a willingness to “pay the butcher’s bill” until the price becomes too great for Russia.

    Time will tell which path this war takes. However, don’t underestimate the power of the AK-47 in the hands of a determined people. It (in combination with other arms sent in from other Nations with an interest in seeing the Russians humiliated again) can do the job. It may have been invented in Russia but it is fully capable of biting the hands of its inventors!

    • Hundreds of Barrett 82/M107 scoped rifles are relatively cheap, compared to high tech weapons, and combined with Raufoss ammunition will take out any Russian vehicles except main battle tanks in the hands of skilled Ukrainian shooters. Being easily transported, they are perfect for ambush and hit & run tactics used by guerilla fighters.

  21. Many Americans own guns and know how to shoot, but how many would hunt if the deer shot back, well that’s what war is, deer shooting back.

  22. It would’ve been nice of the Russians living in Ukraine had those same firearms to stop the Ukrainian government and nazi sympathizing military, you can find plenty of Ukrainian soldiers wearing the swastika emblems, from committing genocide on them….it would’ve avoided this entire war Putin was forced into

  23. News flash: Ukraine looking for ‘international volunteers’ to fight. You Afghanistan and Iraq vets… if you need a job it looks like the Wild Geese are hiring.

  24. Too likely neither our present President nor Vladimir Putin has the faculties to convincingly fake incompetence. You sane, courageous, and self-sacrificing psychiatrists out there need to stand up and be counted. Somebody capable of humoring the Dr. Strangeloves into passive cooperation needs to act now.

    • One thing that I know about Vladimir Putin is that he has a history of back injury, how severe I do not know. Just one more detail to put into the profile. Having incurred a herniated lumbar disc myself, i know it can cause an emotional reaction and influence thinking.

  25. Adding to Mas’s original comments, I belong to chat boards with Swiss members. The Swiss have mandatory arms practice plus subsidized ammo prices for individual practice on one’s own time. They also have several “range days” per year so anyone/everyone who has a legal firearm can come and shoot.

    That isn’t the whole story though, they have a very cohesive society.

    Moving on, several years ago I ran across a video of the finals of the Norwegian version of the National Matches. Fascinating stuff. It was televised and had grand stands for spectators. The targets were electronic reporting targets and had display screens for each shooter so one could keep track of how everyone was doing. FWIW, the course of fire was 300 meters from prone on vaguely humanoid targets, 10 rounds/25 or 30 seconds(?) including a reload. Two classes, bolt gun and “service rifle” both in 7.62 x 51 mm.

    Think we’d ever see something similar here? Me neither.

    • Forgot to add: having been a firearms instructor for decades, based upon my experience, if the US was ever a “Nation of Riflemen”, it was a momentary thing. Remember, the NRA was founded because of miserable marksmanship in the Union Army during the 1861-1865 unpleasantness.

  27. Just imagine what we could have done to help the Ukrainians if all those weapons, vehicles, munitions, supplies, aircraft, and night vision devices the U.S. military left in Afghanistan for the Taliban to grab were given to them instead. I’m sure the Ukrainians could put $80B of top quality American armaments to good use against the invading Russians.

    How about the billions of dollars of weapons and munitions we captured in Iraq, then spent millions to needlessly destroy so we could equip the Iraqi military with billions of dollars of American weapons, paid for by U.S. taxpayers, which most of their soldiers couldn’t or refuse to use effectively?

  28. If you can bear seeing the horrific sight of Russian communist secret polices forces dealing with those persons whom they deem to be enemies of the state, here are two films (with English subtitles) that give an idea of how current Russian security forces (GRU, FSB, SVR) may end up dealing with Ukrainian military and civilian captives.

    These two films include extremely disturbing, harrowing scenes of summary execution that should never be seen by the eyes of children. The face of communism is truly the face of the Devil himself.

    The Chekist (1992) The Cheka was Vladimir Lenin’s secret police. The film follows a Chekist officer as his fellow Chekists and he disposed of persons declared to be enemies of the Bolshevik state.

    https://youtu.be/X_RSDqBn0bA

    Katyn (2007) The NKVD was Joseph Stalin’s secret police. This film shows how the NKVD identified, imprisoned and disposed of Polish military officers and Polish intelligentsia declared to be enemies of the Soviet state in the Katyn Forest.

    https://youtu.be/taVdIFONkCw

    May God have mercy on the hundreds of millions of victims of communism worldwide between 1918 and 2022. Pray for all victims of communism.

    The Second Amendment becomes more relevant and vital to the long term survival of the Republic that is called the USA with each passing day.

    Pray for Ukraine.

    • The world has mostly forgotten, or many never learned, that Stalin had killed tens of millions of Ukrainians back in the early 20th century by seizing their agricultural products so he could sell them to other countries to get money to build up the Russian military. The New York Times correspondent stationed in Russia, along with others foreigners, knew about this but did not bother to report it, so most of the world didn’t learn of this evil act where an estimated 30+ million Ukrainians were murdered. Slow starvation is not a good way to die.

  29. A couple of things:

    Better to have thousands of AKs in the hands of marginally trained citizens than completely disarmed sheep. If nothing else it instill a pride of country and a feeling that you’re “doing something”. Morale is sky high!

    I think sending hit teams to kill President Zelenskyy is a big mistake. If they manage to kill the man who is personifying the battle, then that will further enrage/engage the entire country. He becomes a martyr. They would think of him as a saint.

    I sure hope they’ve figured how to get the hundreds of Javelins and Stingers transported to where they’re needed. I’m sure the Russians are looking for the supply convoys intently to either destroy of capture the weapons. Flying them in is obviously a non starter. Trucks at night might be the only way.

    I’d love to see dozens of Ukrainians with Javelins lie in ambush when a bunch of tanks come rolling up. That would be something!

  30. One issue I’ve not seen mentined here and rarely elsewhere in recent days is this: following the 2014 US backed coup in the Ukraine that removed the culturally Russian president and replaced him with the present Zelensky character (a US puppet, mostly) the people of the Crimea, for centures a part of the old cultural Russia, voted to cee from the Ukraine and rejoin Russia. Those in the Donbas region tried to do this as wel, but did nt manage to pull it off. Their clear desire, these past six or so years, has still been to leave the Ukraine, which has never really been their home, and rejoin Russia which has been for at least a couple fo centuries. These two regions were added to the Ukraine as the “western powers” remade much of Europe into something guaranteed to always be unstable. Much the same as was done with Iraq (where kurds, sunni, shiite, were thrown together into one “nation” and the rest of those three groups distributed amongst two other “nations”, guaranteeing a stable nation would never be able to arise. Same with Czechosloakia and te rest of the balkan peninsula. No wonder that region blew up some years back.
    The US backed present government in the Ukraine has not “played nice” with the Russian heritage regions, taking steps to keep them subdued, and taking unfair advantage of their prosperity in spite of pressure against them. Kiev has become the source of much grief inflicted upon those regions, at the same time being more than marginally dependent upon their success, thus pressuring those regions to remain part of Ukraine. Further, consider the tao main well known scandals of a recent US administration, (Gazprom, Uranium One) involving that same US government cabal….. part of the motivation for the Crimea and the Donbas regions to escape that corrupt game and return to their former homeland politcally.
    My coinvictioin is that Putin is doing what must be done to remove the power to control the added regions, (Crimea, Donbas) and, given the current political/economic status with Kiev’s power, Putin is taking steps to greatly reduce the threat he perceives to the two regions desiring to remain part of Russia. I have also recently read credible reports of signficant miiiltary installations, including many with bioearfare capability, under the close control of Kiev and Zelensky, in areas close enough to Russian territory as to pose serious threats to Russian homelands. These targets were the first Putin had neutralised. US and posssilb chinese involvement in these biowarfare facilities were also considered significantly dangerous, and thus needing to be neutralised. Not sure, but I tend to think Putin’s moves into the capitol were connected to these clear threats. The culturally Ukrainian people would, of course, be loyal to the central government of the Ukraine, and do their bidding. But what of those in the Crimea and Donbas, who decidely do NOT wish to continue under Zelensky’s power?

    • Tionico,

      You may be right, I don’t know. The main thing I see when I look at Russia is that it is, by land mass, the largest country on earth, by far. It has nine time zones. WHY DOES THE LARGEST COUNTRY ON EARTH NEED TO BE EVEN LARGER? Isn’t that the very definition of “greed?” I thought it was the capitalists who were greedy, not communists like Putin. He’s greedier than any capitalist I’ve ever heard about.

      But thanks for sharing what you did, because I want to hear all perspectives. I knew there would be another “crisis” after COVID-19. This one arrived more quickly than I expected. It’s not even after COVID. This “crisis” began before COVID ended.

      • @ Roger Willco – ” I knew there would be another ‘crisis’ after COVID-19.”

        Correct! The World’s so-called “leaders” today live by the process of crisis manufacturing and then riding each one to stay-in-power.

        The other day, I saw a pickup truck with a sticker on the rear window of the cab. The sticker said “Fear is how they are controlling you.” I thought to myself that I have seldom seen truer words displayed on a motor vehicle. 🙂

        The Worldwide “elite” class of so-called “leaders” are deliberately following a strategy of keeping the people of the World in a constant state of unsettled FEAR so that they can be herded and stampeded in a direction that they elites want to go. A direction that secures immeasurable wealth and power for themselves.

        Some of the People are FINALLY waking up to what is happening. However, large parts of the population are still acting like mindless, fear-panicked sheep. I don’t know if enough people are awake yet to make a difference. The fall mid-term elections will give us some idea as to the percentage of awake versus “asleep sheep”. A fully awake population would vote out-of-office every democrat and Rino politician that is standing for election.

        We have been in this “One crisis after another” pattern since 2016. Two events happened that year that really spooked the “Worldwide Elite”. These were: (1) The Brexit Vote for the UK to exit the European Union in June and (2) the election of Donald Trump as President of the U.S.A in November.

        The elites saw both events as challenges, by the People, to THEIR POWER.

        They moved swiftly to nip any such challenge “in the bud”. They delayed the actual implementation of Brexit for years. They sabotaged Donald Trump’s first term in office. Then, they used Covid-19 as their “Ace in the Hole” to eject Trump from office in 2020 and replace him with their mindless Biden puppet.

        Covid-19 has been a good horse for them. They have ridden it HARD for more than 2-years now. However, the Covid-19 horse is getting tired and exhausted.

        So, you are right, It was time for them to manufacture their next “crisis”. With the mid-term elections coming up, they could not wait until the Covid-19 horse total collapsed under them. They are moving their saddle over to the new “Russia/Ukraine” horse.

        Switching, you see, from a universal foreign & domestic horse (Covid-19) to a purely foreign horse. A “horse of a different color” (so to say) and a “crisis of a different nature”. They probably figure it is time to pitch a “change up” so as to keep the well-worn “crisis” technique looking fresh! 🙂

        The purpose of this new horse is to divert the People from thinking too much about Biden’s domestic failures (inflation, southern border, economy, etc.) and, with the ever-able help of their media propaganda organs, to try to make him look like a leader on the World Stage. They know that the American People will often rally around a President during a foreign crisis. They hope to rally the American People around Biden (and the democrat party) prior to the mid-term elections.

        To extend my “horse” metaphor, this is a “Dog and Pony Show” being staged for the purpose of trying to stay-in-power (post-midterm election) using their well-worn trick of “crisis creation and exploitation”.

      • > WHY DOES THE LARGEST COUNTRY ON EARTH NEED TO BE EVEN LARGER?

        Most of Russia is garbage land, not fit for human habitation. What isn’t frozen all the time is mud when it’s not frozen. The USSR built roads where they could, and planted cities in the tundra and taiga, but they were dependent on support from the national infrastructure to survive, and many were abandoned very shortly after the USSR came apart. “Abandoned Soviet cities” are very much a thing.

        Depending on your definition of “habitable”, Russia isn’t nearly as large as the maps imply.

      • Ukraine has huge reserves of natural gas and one of the largest producers of agricultural products in the world, so it’s a valuable property to the Russians. It was once called “The bread basket of Russia” due to it’s good climate and soil for growing stuff.

      • TN_MAN:

        I have a sticker on my vehicle which is good too. It states “THINK” and underneath that in smaller letters, “It’s not illegal (yet)”. Shades of 1984!

      • TRX,

        Thanks for informing me about the terrain of Russia. I know they have forests and natural resources, too. I’m pretty sure what you wrote is correct, however, let’s compare Japan and Russia. Japan is an island nation, no natural resources, with 125 million people. Russia has 144 million people. The Japanese people are richer than the Russians. Why is that? So, my point is, Russia should be able to live within its borders, and even prosper, if Japan can do the same. If a nation is at a disadvantage, the solution is to work and innovate, not to go around conquering others like Vikings, Mongols, Nazis, Antifa and BLM looters.

        Logic would teach us that nations with abundant natural resources should be rich nations, while nations with scarce natural resources should be poor nations. Logic is wrong. There are examples of nations, or areas, with abundant resources, which happen to be poor nations. Zimbabwe has the most fertile soil in the world. The opposite is also true. Japan, Switzerland and Iceland prove that some nations can prosper even in the absence of abundant natural resources.

        Greed does not allow people to be content with enough. When people get enough, they want more. This causes most of the world’s problems, if people seek to get more by taking it from others, rather than by selling things to them.

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