Anyone heat mapping those naughty Russians? Today is supposed to be go day. 
Lots of maps and random sat photos but you would think someone would gameify this so the unwashed masses could make it the most watched event on TV. We did this for the Gulf War worked great. nytimes.com/interactive/20…
I was the world's only war journo embedded with war journos cuz network wouldn't let me sneak in due to fear of lost embeds. I filmed the lead up to the Iraq War. Danny Schechter make this low budget doc about the information operations side of the war.
I am not taking bets on Go Day. But yesterday was the 31st anniversary of the Russias leaving Afghanistan. Stuff like that sticks in Vlad's craw. Good thing the leader of Ukraine is a comic. But lets get some creaky old football guys and call this. vox.com/2022/2/14/2293…
America, Fox News, glitzy graphics and football language were inextricably linked during the invasion of Iraq. What are the folks in Moscow watching? si.com/the-cauldron/2…
Seems like the Russians aren't being jacked up to buy merch and popcorn. So odds are Vlad is just bluffing. I honestly don't think he could survive the sanctions hit without dropping at the polls. economist.com/europe/2022/02…
Vlad's first time up at bat was the second invasion of Chechnya. Under Drunk Uncle Boris. the brutal reality of Russia's incompetence was too much to bear. (pun) Putin went with dirty deeds, not insults to convince Russians. washingtonpost.com/archive/politi…
In 1999 KGB officer Putin used shock and fear to justify another invasion of Chechnya. Propaganda of the highest order is simple and direct. Chechnya went from independent nation with elected officials to a terrorist region.
When I interviewed GRU agent Aleksi Galkin in a nuclear bunker in Grozny it was clear that Putin was laying out a consistent narrative; Chechens were terrorists and were attacking Russia. It would be ridiculously east to repeat this in Ukraine.
In addition to my book. there is a lonely Wiki page that used to be groomed by Russians saying that Galkin was tortured to tell me everything. Looks like they have given up. A lot of people linked to my interview and Galkin's information ended up dead. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aleksey_G…
When he got home the Russians made Aleksi do an entire other interview all cleaned up and even write a book in an effort to spin my interview. Frame from my bunker interview. He was watching Chuck Norris movies in Chinese when I left him. en.infoaboutlawyers.com/4007348-alexey…
Much of the original info has been nuked. Dozens of eye witnesses murdered. There are docs and books on the event but Vlad worked really really hard to cover up the apartment explosions. Naughy Vlad.
I got out of Chechnya (barely) but the Russians created a dystopian spectacle unseen since World War Two. Could this be the Ukraine if Vlad attacks?
And there you have it. Russia insists that "wars rarely start on a Wednesday" immediately sending millions of analysis to google. news.yahoo.com/russia-claims-…
Russia is lying of course. They have been at war with Ukraine since 2014. The date of this speech? Wednesday of course. bbc.com/news/world-eur…
Back to Putin's first war. Chechnya and some RYP Trivia. When I got out a spent an evening with Marie Colvin and briefed her on what to expect. She won an award just writing about escaping from Chechnya. RIP Marie. mariecolvincenter.org/stories-by-mar…
More "Horrors of War" Trivia: America's finest spy platform, the Global Hawk draws a giant dick on Russian troop positions. Feb 16: Biden 1 - Vlad - 0
I know we have spy satellites but the Global Hawk is pretty impressive. You can see the scale here;
Russia has drones too. But they look like rushed to market bad copies of older U.S. drones. Vlad was deeply embarrassed when his top of the line anti aircraft systems were wiped out in Libya by cheap Turkish drones.
Final trivia. Despite Rambo movies and Duck and Cover films...American troops have only officially fought the Russian army once... and in 1918. wsj.com/articles/the-o…
The last sorta time U.S. soldiers fought "Russians" was in Syria and boy did the Russians get their asses kicked. U.S. Special Forces and Air Power is thing of awesome power and precision. nytimes.com/2018/05/24/wor…
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