Much is being made about explosions that sent Russians scurrying from their beach cabanas on the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea on Tuesday.
Ukraine claims they resulted from the derring-do of its Special Forces – who infiltrated behind enemy lines and blew up a Russian military airbase.
But red-faced Russia insists the explosions resulted from nothing more than a planned detonation of aviation ordinance. Except that the detonation also destroyed at least 9 Russian fighter jets. But I suppose that was due to the incompetence that has characterized Putin’s “Special Military Operation”…
As it happens, though, that destruction makes Putin’s decision to travel to Iran recently to purchase hundreds of its US re-engineered drones seem prescient. After all, the humiliation he suffered on the world stage by doing so pales in comparison with the urgent need Russia has now to replace those jets.
Incidentally, the loss of those fighter jets reportedly represents its greatest loss of military equipment in a single day since WWII…
In fact, CNN reported on Wednesday that Russian soldiers are now being trained in Iran to man those drones, which are capable of firing precision-guided missiles. And, with Russia suffering unsustainable casualties of over 75,000, unmanned drones will clearly be a godsend – not just to replace fighter jets in the air but soldiers on the battlefield to boot.
Make Russia a battlefield … too
The blowing up of that military airbase in Crimea show that Ukraine is willing to take this fight to Russia. Unfortunately, from day one of this war, it has been unable to do so … effectively. While duly acknowledging occasional strikes, I raised concerns about this strategic shortcoming in a Quora post on July 5 as follows:
I fully appreciate that Ukraine has since landed a few missile strikes on oil and munitions depots in the border regions of Bryansk and Belgorod. But they are like mosquitos nipping at the butt of a bear compared to what Russian missiles have done, and are still doing, all over Ukraine – in cities like Mariupol and Bucha.
And so the categorical imperative remains that it must do so by hitting not just military targets in Russian occupied areas of Ukraine (like Crimea), but strategic government buildings in Russian cities in Russia itself (like Moscow) as well.
My abiding lament is that the way NATO is forcing Ukraine to fight this war is rather like a heavyweight fighter (Russia) challenging a lightweight (Ukraine), and the sanctioning body (NATO) forbidding the lightweight from ever landing a punch on the heavyweight.
But it’s even worse than that. Because, forget Russia, Western leaders have even been too afraid to provide Ukraine long-range missiles that can reach deep inside the eastern regions of Ukraine, namely the very Donbas region Putin is now threatening to annex.
This is why Special Forces had to risk their lives to blow up that Russian military airbase in Crimea. Whereas, it would have been far more efficient and less risky to use HIMARS…
Apropos of which, the bottom line is that the surest and quickest way to end this war is for Ukraine to begin bombing cities in Russia the way Russia has been bombing cities in Ukraine … from day one. And the only way Ukraine will be able to do that is for the US and NATO to get over their irrational fear of incurring Russia’s wrath and supply Ukraine enough of the right kinds of weapons (like HIMARS) to do so.
Ban Russians to help Ukrainians
Meanwhile, Putin’s propaganda is such that he has far too many Russians convinced his “Special Military Operation” in Ukraine is a humanitarian mission. This must infuriate – more than words can say – anyone outside Russia with half a brain; after all, that it’s a genocidal invasion is so plain.
But Putin would have some splainin’ to do if the EU and US impose a tourist ban…
Estonia and Finland’s leaders are calling on fellow European countries to stop issuing tourist visas to Russian citizens, saying they should not be allowed to take vacations in Europe as Moscow pursues its war in Ukraine. …
The call from Estonia and Finland came as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy also aired a proposal against visas for Russians in an interview with The Washington Post. The plea was echoed by Latvia, which has already decided to stop issuing the visas.
(Deutsche Welle, August 9, 2022)
Because I doubt even “Z”-swastika wearing Russians would find such isolation is bliss. This, especially with Ukrainian Special Forces making even staycation jaunts to beaches in Crimea no longer hospitable…
After all, it’s one thing for a few Russian athletes to be treated like pariahs on the world stage because of Putin’s state-sponsored doping program. It’s quite another for all Russian tourists to be treated like skunks because of his genocidal invasion of Ukraine.