"From a Western Clausewitzian standpoint, there is no longer any political justification for Russia’s aggression against Ukraine other than to allow Russian President Vladimir Putin to save face. But from Putin and his supporters’ perspective on Clausewitz ,that is more than a sufficient justification for continuing this war.

Putin has long since morphed into a contemporary version of a Shakespearean villain who is in blood so steeped that to go back would be as tiresome as to go o’er. Indeed, Putin and his toadies are busily making reckless nuclear threats in the belief that such threats will frighten the West into stopping the war with Russian troops on Ukrainian soil. In other words, they are exploiting Nixon’s madman theory to terrify Westerners with nuclear threats.

Unfortunately, too many Western experts are arguing that we have to save Russia or Putin’s face lest the humiliation of defeat drive him to escalate. Alternatively, they argue that we must negotiate the future of European security with Russia."

The utter necessity of a Russian defeat

God damn. Two of the most destructive weapons in history were made by this guy.

"William Livens designed the flame throwers and gas bombs that helped win World War One for the Allies. He was also awarded a raft of medals for his gallantry when the fighting was done.

But it might be his contribution to the kitchen that has been the most enduring. In 1924 he invented an innovative electric dishwasher complete with a front door for loading, a wire rack for crockery and a rotating sprayer."

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5974409/War-medals-Royal-Engineer-flame-thrower-gas-bomb-helped-win-WWI.html

Soldiers of Christ, be strong in faith unfeigned and in the armor of the Spirit, for we are now on the confines of hell; watch, therefore, and act manfully.

St. Brendan of Clonfert, quoted in Anon., The Voyage of St. Brendan the Abbot XXIII.iii

YouTube has removed more than 70,000 videos and blocked 9,000 channels for violating content requirements related to the conflict in Ukraine, The Guardian reported.

"It is advisable to attack as quickly as possible to avoid a complete stalemate. The leader knows the effect of modern weapons, he knows that the frontal attack has survived since before Ypres. His aim is to concentrate the impact on a key point in the enemy's position, to carry out a rapid penetration of the strike troops into the demoralised space, to assess the frontal attack. The clock is synchronised, communicators, special weapons officers rush in and out. The fire swells, thickens into a cloud at the point of attack, then abruptly retreats to the side and into the interior. It is at this point, still under cover of the last shells, that the strike troops begin. Their attack is a concentration of force, the use of extreme energy, the ideal of warfare."
~ Ernst Jünger

"Russia’s blockade of Ukraine’s ports is a “declaration of war” that threatens to trigger mass migration and a global food crisis, a United Nations official said, adding to the dire warnings on the opening day of the World Economic Forum in Davos."

https://news.yahoo.com/germany-warns-looming-global-food-061941971.html

Pretty significant opinion shift during this Mearsheimer debate against acknowledging NATO overreach and Russian security interests. Shows how willing people are to accept bad intelligence propaganda.

https://youtu.be/EhgWLmd7mCo

Ukraine is not a formal NATO member, but it is a real NATO member due to deep NATO entrenchment: flooding the country with weapons, command, and militants. Similarly, Sweden and Finland may become formal NATO members without being real members. Real mobilisation will be the great question - then a Russian response will be necessary. Inability to distinguish formal and informal laws renders much of the legal debate pointless, and shows how far we've moved from the "rules-based order". This is only an illusory representation of law to continue the subversive mobilisations and incursions into new regions.
If the Scanrinavians make it a formality alone the move could be tolerable; although I doubt this will only be a formal membership for propaganda purposes.