https://www.rawstory.com/russia-invasion-of-ukraine-2657330175/
Russian President Vladmir Putin (Shutterstock)During a segment on CNN this Monday, national security analyst Beth Sanner addressed Finland and Sweden’s upcoming applications to be members of NATO — a development that’s “exactly the opposite” of what Russian President Vladimir Putin aimed to achieve with his invasion of Ukraine.
According to Sanner, anxiety about how Putin will respond is slightly overblown, and she argued that “basically, Putin can’t do anything” and that Putin has already moved the goal posts by declaring the countries’ potential expansion of NATO doesn’t pose a threat to Russia.
“I don’t think there’s that much [Putin] can do, so he doesn’t want to make a big deal out of it because it will look stupid,” Sanner said.
Sanner also spoke to Russia’s fledgling military campaign, which has seen significant setbacks due to the ferocity of the Ukrainian military’s defense, saying the world is “starting to see some cracks” in Putin’s stability as a leader due to the fact that “people are starting to recognize” that the Russian government is struggling, especially in light of “anecdotal reports” that some Russian troops are starting to refuse orders.
“Russia is running out of manpower and that means that Putin may have to change his war aims even more narrowly.”
Watch the segment below or at this link.
Scottie's Playtime 
Scottie, Ukraine called his bluff and said show me your cards. Putin has been playing with a pair of threes for a long while. Keith
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Hello Keith. Yes there are some sheepish military people speaking up about how they were totally fooled by Russia. The Russians have long boasted of being a superpower, and the USSR was. But when the oligarchs started diverting all the countries wealth to themselves and corruption started becoming the standard business model even in the military the country went from a via formidable military to a sub peer force. If things don’t change in the US that is going to happen here. Too much money is going up to the highest levels and not back into the country itself or into the needs of the people. It used to be that housing took 30% of your income, but where I live young people are looking at rentals that take up 75% of their income. What supports an economy made on services if the people cannot go out to eat or for enjoyment, what keeps goods selling if the people cannot afford to buy? For a long time retirees with company pensions or those able to save to retirement funds when workers incomes went to more than survival has supported the economy, but those people are less and less every year. The people who are retiring now are without those benefits and will have only social security to live on. It is not enough especially if they have to pay for housing. The country is in big trouble, and it is going to get worse. Hugs
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Scottie, there are a lot of issues to unpack here. But, the more we spend on military, the less we can spend on helping others or even lowering our deficit. Keith
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Hello Keith. That I agree with. Plus the real big money in the DOD budget is not going for troops or improving the things they need; it is going for the big ticket items that bring the most profit to defense contractors. Sadly the generals that do the buying also end up working for those same contractors. Funny how that works. But the country needs so much more than just the worlds super biggest military. We need infrastructure for one thing. We need the development in the future and technology, agriculture, and other things that will have to be changed. Hugs
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