I wish CNN commentator retired Brig. Gen. Peter Zwack would STFU. In every appearance, he asserts that Ukraine has virtually already won this war because Russia's inept, undermanned military hasn't a chance of victory. He's a nonstop cheerleader for a positive Ukrainian outcome he cannot possibly know.
And cheerleading makes me nervous; it almost always boomerangs. The most notable domestic example was when everyone knew (including me) that Hillary Clinton would defeat Trump soundly in 2016— and said so, incessantly cheerleading and prematurely celebrating. Yet a mountain of unintended consequences from Clinton's poor campaigning destroyed our ubiquitous, common knowledge.
Just as Mr. Zwack is overlooking Russia's intentional, possibly successful consequences in Ukraine. Its forces are regrouping; its tactics are changing, as well as its strategy; Russians are bombing, starving and dehydrating major urban populations deprived of medical care; Russia has brought on a massive refugee crisis; some populations are hopelessly trapped nevertheless; Russia has dragged Belarus into the fight; it may shift more of its military forces into Ukraine; it has intimidated the West; and Putin's propaganda campaign at home goes unabated and overappreciated.
I am not doing the equivalent of what Zwack is doing; that is, I am not predicting a certain Russian victory. Courageous Ukrainians could very well win this thing, as poorly as Russian forces have performed, and may continue to perform. Fact is, no one knows. Yet retired Brig. Gen. Peter Zwack persists in providing a foolishly one-sided, wholly optimistic view, creating possibly impossible expectations. As I observed in an earlier post, I can see why he never advanced beyond one star.
His remarks, as noted, are the kind of heavily biased cheerleading that makes me very nervous. I smell the boomerang effect all around it.