Blog Credo

The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.

H.L. Mencken

Monday, March 6, 2023

Bakhmut

 There have been notable examples in history of militaries grinding themselves to dust over targets of limited strategic importance. Stalingrad comes to mind. Bakhmut is another example of two armies apparently bleeding themselves dry over a place of little actual import.

We have become accustomed to seeing the Ukrainian Army as better led, certainly better motivated and making the wisest tactical and strategic choices - at least compared to the Russians. So, hopefully, the meatgrinder of Bakhmut isn't depriving them of the manpower and resources that they will need for what everyone assumes will be an offensive towards Melitipol. 

It's fine for Russia to punch itself out trying to take Bakhmut, but Ukraine will need a counteroffensive at some point.

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