I am preparing updated slides for a public talk about the war in Ukraine and made this infographic to illustrate the costly Russian conquests, and how much worse they have been faring over time. This explains a lot about why Putin needs Trump to ride to his rescue so badly and why the US government has renewed the push for Ukraine to cede the remainder of Donetsk without a fight. The Russians are simply incapable of conquering it without a massive new mobilization (which even in the threatening environment there the polls show 73% oppose).

Oh my, another idiot take that just won’t die. The Europeans are not funding Russia’s war. They started from a deep structural dependency on Russian energy and have made tremendous — and fast — progress on decoupling. This isn’t something you just turn off overnight. And they still contribute far more to Ukraine in aid anyway. In contrast, the US is not even remotely dependent on Russian fossil fuels and yet the Kremlin asset in the White House is easing sanctions anyway while completely shutting off aid. Contrary to the braindead takes of Trump apologists, the hypocrisy runs squarely through Washington, not Brussels.