I never expected anything from Anchorage but was astonished by the warm welcome, handshakes, hugs and red carpet given to Putin by the Americans. This is the bloke who has stolen territory from another nation in 2014, then again in 2022 and who has been directly responsible for the loss of hundreds of thousands of people in Ukraine and, indeed, in his own country. Whilst I appreciate the need to talk to Putin and try to find some way out of this awful business, the US soldiers on their knees rolling out that red carpet was beyond belief. It merely confirms the opinion that I came to a long time ago - there are many Very Stupid people running the current presidency.
Putting all that to one side and trying hard not to get angry as the pictures keep appearing of the smiles and that damned carpet, Putin has benefited considerably from this one day in Anchorage, Alaska. He can see that there is no immediate threat of any real concern to him from the world's greatest power at this time and, indeed, that, were it not for this annoying Ukraine issue, he could actually be making some huge deals with the United States and deliver what his country would be delighted to read about and, should those deals lead to improved economic circumstances more widely, the population of Russia would largely cease to worry so much about all that military stuff, which he hadn't intended to tell them about in the first place - another than as some Special Military Operation that was a matter of tidying up some past errors in borders that needed to be fixed.
Now he must feel free to continue as he pleases as, with support from the US, who is going to stop him?
And that is what really worries me now. I fear a massive escalation as Russian troops make a renewed effort to capture those key places that would give them almost permanent control over the East and permit a further build-up of resources and men so that a successful attack could be formulated against Kharkiv from the East and North and I would not be at all surprised to see a stream of forces coming South from the Belarus border quite soon. That would enable all the currently relatively peaceful parts of Ukraine to be taken over and with Ukraine troops then spread so thinly in all directions I cannot see how they could stop any advance.
Last time they did because they had fresh troops and plenty of them and, particularly relevant, Russian troops and equipment were dreadfully poor both in operation and planning. I think they thought they could just walk in and get little resistance so no-one bothered to plan seriously for anything other than moving in and taking over. They probably spent more on making new forms to be filled in and passports for the Ukraine population than they did on checking that equipment worked and troops knew where they where supposed to go.
This time Russian military leaders appear to have learned from their mistakes in 2022 and, whilst not doing brilliantly well, they have developed systems for minimising the impact of the Ukraine drones and they have built up considerably greater and fresher forces than Ukraine will ever be able to manage. North Korea has, of course, also topped up the numbers which has allowed commanders to send masses into battle along the old-fashioned lines of whoever has the most people in a battle will win as long as they can keep replenishing those killed. North Koreans have been easy cannon-fodder that no-one has really been worried about losing. No awkward explanations to mothers needed for them.
So I cannot imagine why Putin should not now surge forward in all directions, maybe assisted by some heavy bombing to minimise defence and resistance in a few towns along the way and also to show anyone in the West thinking about leaping to Ukraine's defence that there's not a great deal of point any more as it is all effectively going to be over soon.
A modest nuclear explosion or two would serve to test just what the rest of us would actually do. I am afraid to say that I don't think we would do anything other than moan loudly and have a lot of meetings. With that confirmation that we won't even defend Ukraine when they're being bombed or chemically weaponed out of existence but merely allow as many as can escape with their lives to come and live in Europe or the British Commonwealth, Putin can simply get what he wants and then consider what to do about Georgia and maybe some other errant states as he gradually pulls the USSR back together.
I suspect he'll leave those countries lucky enough to have been able to join NATO and accept that they're not coming back just yet so the European Union and Britain can take a break and gradually issue new maps for the atlas books.
There will still be demonstrations about Gaza or Palestine and how bad we all are in our attitude to what is happening there. None of those people with time to wave placards and cause trouble in Britain, however, will be bothered about all the children that have already disappeared into Russia, forcefully taken from parents in Ukraine towns that Russian troops control. None of those people will be bothered about a vast country that was peaceful on February 23, 2022 now under threat of being subjugated to communist party control, with children taught that their country should never really have existed and their parents obliged to fight to attack resistance in Ukraine instead of defending Ukraine.
I said at the start how stupid many powerful Americans seem to be. Add the Hamas-loving Palestine liberation supporters wandering around our towns and cities at a time when other causes are far more deserving of attention and action to that list. And the idiotic politicians who also support them and the judges who don't punish them.
I was going to add the politicians who, since 2014 have just looked away or done little but hold meetings and make speeches at best in defence of Ukraine, to the Really Stupid list but that's not right. They all belong in the Really Scared list. Because that's why we have done nothing. Not because it would cost money, Not because Ukraine isn't in NATO. Not because Ukraine is a long way away. Not because we're a bit short of troops and equipment. Not because we haven't been directly threatened ourselves. Not because it wouldn't be right. No, because we're scared.
