CLAUDIA ROSETT: Ukraine in the Colosseum.

It’s not as if the U.S. and its NATO allies have failed to react to Vladimir Putin’s amplifying threats and current onslaught against Ukraine. We’ve seen months of frantic U.S.-led diplomacy, European visits to the Kremlin, speeches in Munich, additional U.S. troops dispatched to reinforce NATO, UN Security Council meetings and new sanctions on top of old sanctions.

Nonetheless, it’s hard to escape the sense that the mighty democracies of the West are not so much standing with Ukraine as sitting like spectators at the Colosseum — watching Ukraine do single combat against Russia.

Read the whole thing.

OUT: DEFUND THE POLICE. IN: Rapper Rick Ross buys metro Atlanta police officer lunch. “He said no police officer will ever pay for lunch if he is around.”

CHARLIE CRIST IS SUCH A PUTZ:

REPORT: Kremlin website is down: Russian state websites including media watchdog crash and TV channels ‘are hacked to broadcast Ukrainian songs.’

DON’T YOU THINK SHE LOOKS . . . TIRED?

#JOURNALISM:

“CAN I TOW YOU BACK TO RUSSIA?” Russian soldiers stuck on road get roasted by Ukrainian driver.

A priceless exchange of a brave Ukrainian citizen with Russian army stuck out of fuel. ENGLISH SUBTITLES.

[Thanks to my Ukrainian friend for transcription and translation] pic.twitter.com/Rar3WRXEwD

— Ali 🇺🇦🕊 (@aliostad) February 26, 2022

FROM TONIGHT’S OPEN THREAD:

Totally unrelated: Flower seeds.

In case anyone mentioned this, it’s a reference to the Ukrainian woman giving Russian soldiers flower seeds to put in their pockets, so flowers would grow over their dead bodies.

SO I DON’T KNOW IF THIS STORY IS TRUE: Chechen general Magomed Tushayev, the president’s right-hand man, killed near Kiev. “The Armed Forces of Ukraine have assured that shortly after 8:30 p.m. they have “neutralized” the Chechen general, Magomed Tushayev. Apparently, he could have been killed near Kiev, in the area known as Hostome. Tushayev He was in charge of the 141 motorized regiment of the so-called Kadyrov guard: one of the most elite units in Chechnya and whose contingent would be made up of about 400 men. Magomed Tushayev, was known as one of the Lords of war and its loss is a severe blow to the Chechen contingent that was moved to Kiev to support the Russian army in the capture of the Ukrainian capital.”

What does that mean? It means people are sending it to me, but they’re not people I regard as eminently trustworthy — which doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be trusted, just that I don’t have a relationship of trust with them, or a track record to assess. The outlet is one I can’t assess for reliability. I tried to confirm it from other sources but found basically variations on the same story, in outlets that I also can’t assess for reliability. That doesn’t mean it isn’t true, it just means I can’t form a useful opinion.

All wartime info is to be questioned, of course, especially when it comes from the warring parties or their supporters or detractors. In this case, true or not, the salience of the story is that the Chechen occupation troops, because of their known brutality (which fact is not in question) were intended to terrify the Ukrainian population. That manifestly hasn’t happened, but this story is likely to reduce their potential for terrifying the population further: If one of the “lords of war” has been killed already, how tough are they?

Again, that doesn’t mean the story is true or false. It’s a secondary impact that may happen whether the story is true or not.

Just an illustration of how these things work, and how difficult it is to form a true picture of what’s going on from afar. For that matter, even the actual warring parties face many of these difficulties.

And you know, I just realized I’ve been warblogging again. I thought that was behind me. . . .

I DO:

SOME THOUGHTS ON PUTIN AND UKRAINE FROM JIM BENNETT:

Putin’s failed coup in Ukraine reminds me a bit of the failed German coup in Norway in April 1940. Of course the Germans ended up taking control of Norway, just as Putin can end up in physical control of Ukraine if he is willing to take the necessary steps and pay the price. But Hitler had wanted the same kind of clean coup in Norway that he had achieved in Denmark — the KIng and royal family held hostage and a formal surrender from the legitimate government, with no exile government or forces. He didn’t get that because the Norwegian resistance was unexpectedly strong, and one cranky old officer on the verge of retirement and a bunch of raw 18-year-old conscripts managed to sink one battlecruiser and put another out of action, incidentally drowning the 1000-man special forces team that had been assigned to capture the King, Parliament, and treasury. By throwing the German schedule off by six hours and losing the element of surprise, all of those targets got away and eventually made their way to London where they set up an effective government in exile. The Nazis had to do with a makeshift puppet regime headerd by the nutjob* Quisling, who had very little credibility with the Norwegians or anybody else.

Whatever else happens now, the Ukrainian forces and government have similarly frustrated Putin’s hope for a swift, nearly bloodless coup and installation of a pliant puppet regime. He can prevail militarily, of course, by the application of much more destructive military force, basically making Kiev a second Grozny. Unlike Grozny, every bloody act will be tweeted, videoed, and shared worldwide with fluent English-language narration. And he would have to maintain a sizeable occupation force, with ongoing casualties, for the foreseeable future.

Alternatively, he could probably accept a ceasefire and maybe a recognized partition of Ukraine, keeping Crimea and some of the Donbas, but not much more — in other words, little to show for his losses, excpt something he might use to save face domestically.

I expect he will continue on the former course for a while, waiting to see how bad the international fallout is, and whether the Ukrainians can hold together. But the further he goes down that road, the harder the climbdown will be.

The parts of the American right that are still trying to sell an isolationist line are looking worse and worse. Biden’s handlers are smart enough to loudly insist they will not send troops. The Ukrainians are presenting themselves well and sympathetically. (We should not forget there is a substantial Ukrainian-American and Ukrainian-Canadian population, and that the Pole and Baltic ethnic communities are pretty well engaged, too.) Lots of Second Amendment types are enjoying the sight of a government handing out AKs to everybody. But I have always felt that Anglosphere populations just don’t have the stomach for a genuinely realist foreign policy. We are seeing that right now.

Getting tagged as pro-Putin is the one thing that is most likely to derail the GOP train in November. The left is starting to see that and put out the Journolist instructions. I hope we don’t have too many idiots on our side falling into their trap.

*Quisling really was a nutjob. As Defense Minister in the 1930s, he threatened to go to war against Denmark over some claims to part of Greenland.

I see a lot more lefties claiming the right is pro-Putin than I see pro-Putin people on the right. But that won’t stop them from lying, of course. It never does.

OPEN THREAD: Please don’t trouble with the water.

NEW YORK POST EDITORIAL: Stand With Ukraine.

Vladimir Putin’s attempted rape of Ukraine isn’t going as easily as he expected, and the determination of the Ukrainian people is why.

This is a nation that elected a comedian its president, not as a stunt but as the biggest possible middle finger to defeatism, cynicism and fear. And that president refuses to flee, like countless other electeds.

How many members of Congress would take up arms, as much of Ukraine’s Parliament is doing?

The fierce resistance matters, and not just in holding off Putin’s army of conscripts. It is inspiring the world.

The West may have hesitated in advance of the assault, but it’s rallying. Nation after nation is sending materiel to Ukraine, with even Germany side-stepping constitutional restrictions to help the freedom-fighters.

Not all of Europe is yet on board with fully kicking Russia out of SWIFT, but it took a big step in that direction Saturday, blacklisting much of Putin’s banking sector.

Fear is losing. Sweden and Finland are talking of joining NATO — even knowing it was that prospect that most enraged Putin in Ukraine’s case.

Kyiv and the rest of the country remain in grave peril. But the resistance so far is also a warning that, at the worst, Ukraine won’t stay conquered. The nation’s already forced one Russian puppet prez to flee — any new one will face the same staunch opposition.

As much we can, let us all show solidarity with this nation of heroes. Fly the blue and gold flag if you can get one; wear the colors — send your kid to school in a yellow shirt and blue jeans.

Tell bloody Vlad: You are f–ked.

Gladly.

AIRSPACE DENIED:

MESSAGING:

COUNTERING RUSSIAN INTERNET INTERFERENCE: Elon Musk says SpaceX’s Starlink satellites active over Ukraine after request from embattled country’s leaders.

Elon Musk says SpaceX’s Starlink satellites are now active over Ukraine after a request from the embattled country’s leadership to replace internet services destroyed by the Russian attack.

Vladimir Putin’s unprovoked invasion has left parts of the country without internet, while SpaceX has launched thousands of communications satellites to bring broadband to hard to reach areas of the world.

“Starlink service is now active in Ukraine. More terminals en route,” the entrepreneur tweeted on Saturday.

The move came after Ukraine’s vice prime minister urged Mr Musk to help them out, as the SpaceX system does not require any fiber-optic cables.

Whether it’s Canadian truckers or Ukrainian patriots, Elon Musk and Starlink are on the side of freedom.

A COMPREHENSIVE UKRAINE SITUATION REPORT: Russia-Ukraine Warning Update: Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, February 26.

Key Takeaways

Russia has failed to encircle and isolate Kyiv with the combination of mechanized and airborne attacks as it had clearly planned to do. Russian forces are now engaging in more straightforward mechanized drives into the capital along a narrow front along the west bank of the Dnipro River and toward Kyiv from a broad front to the northeast.
Russian forces have temporarily abandoned failed efforts to seize Chernihiv and Kharkiv to the northeast and east of Kyiv and are bypassing those cities to continue their drive on Kyiv. Russian attacks against both cities appear to have been poorly designed and executed and to have encountered more determined and effective Ukrainian resistance than they expected.
Russian movements in eastern Ukraine remain primarily focused on pinning the large concentration of Ukrainian conventional forces arrayed along the former line of contact in the east, likely to prevent them from interfering with Russian drives on Kyiv and to facilitate their encirclement and destruction.
Russian forces coming north from Crimea halted their drive westward toward Odesa, and Ukrainian forces have retaken the critical city of Kherson. Some Russian troops remain west of the Dnipro River and are advancing on Mikolayiv, but the main axes of advance have shifted to the north and east toward Zaporizhie and Mariupol respectively.
Russian forces have taken the critical city of Berdyansk from the west, threatening to encircle Mariupol even as Russian forces based in occupied Donbas attack Mariupol from the east, likely to pin defenders in the city as they are encircled.
Russian successes in southern Ukraine are the most dangerous and threaten to unhinge Ukraine’s successful defenses and rearguard actions to the north and northeast.
Russian troops are facing growing morale and logistics issues, predictable consequences of the poor planning, coordination, and execution of attacks along Ukraine’s northern border.

Russia has surprisingly failed to gain air superiority or ground the Ukrainian air force after three days of fighting.

Much, much more at the link. Make of this what you will, bearing in mind that all reports are uncertain in wartime.

FIGHT THE POWER, STICK IT TO THE MAN: Lawsuit Over Nieman Journalism Lab (at Harvard) Outing Commenter Can Go Forward.

I CAN’T IMAGINE WHY: Americans’ Trust in Scientists, Other Groups Declines. “Trust in scientists and medical scientists, once seemingly buoyed by their central role in addressing the coronavirus outbreak, is now below pre-pandemic levels. Overall, 29% of U.S. adults say they have a great deal of confidence in medical scientists to act in the best interests of the public, down from 40% who said this in November 2020. Similarly, the share with a great deal of confidence in scientists to act in the public’s best interests is down by 10 percentage points (from 39% to 29%), according to a new Pew Research Center survey.”

Plus: “The share of Americans who say they have a great deal of confidence in the military to act in the public’s best interests has fallen 14 points, from 39% in November 2020 to 25% in the current survey. And the shares of Americans with a great deal of confidence in K-12 public school principals and police officers have also decreased (by 7 and 6 points, respectively).”

Want to be trusted? Be trustworthy.

LIVE, LAUGH, LAY DOWN SUPPRESSIVE FIRE: Pottery Barn Ukraine’s new spring decorations are lit.

DISPATCHES FROM THE GAZPACHO POLICE: Marjorie Taylor Greene addresses white supremacist conference ahead of CPAC.

RICHARD FERNANDEZ: Putin’s Failure. “Ukraine has not won; not in the military sense. It has lost territory, suffered significant losses to soldier and civilian, endured massive property damage. But crucially it has not lost — and that may be enough. Attention is now turning to the possible danger that may attend Putin’s fall. While he appears to remain firmly in power, the ex-chekist cannot but be weakened by the massive failure of his gamble…The crisis in Ukraine, while not over, is likely to evolve into a crisis in Russia. We shall soon see who is more to be feared: a Putin in Kyiv or a Putin raging in the bunker.”

AMAZING: Kyiv Is Still Holding out, and Putin Is Reportedly Furious.

THE BUREAUCRATS ARE GOING AFTER HIM NOW, AND THEY’RE BEING PRETTY OBVIOUS ABOUT IT: Report: Elon Musk and Brother Face Insider Trading Probe.

BRAVE SIR JUSTIN IS DOING HIS PART: Canada keeps airspace open to Russian airliners for now. He doesn’t see Putin as posing the kind of existential threat that dissident truck drivers do.