Vindman on Putin’s bridge response: Russia is really a one-trick pony

Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman (Ret.) and former US Ambassador to Ukraine Bill Taylor discuss what Russian strikes following the Crimea bridge explosion mean for Russian President Vladimir Putin's military strategy. #CNN #News

60 comments

    1. “I licked it, so it’s mine.” Where have I heard that before?
      Oh yeah, from a little kid. That’s Putler’s mindset!

    1. POLITICALLY NAIVE AND FOOLISH LEADER OF UKRAINE caused this war and suffering by antagonising and threatening RUSSIA for no reason.Better to negotiate and bring peace rather than keep on escalating to nuclear holocaust.Keep praying for peace and wiser counsel.Let this stupidity and suffering come to an end.

    2. @Shri Param Hans Advait Mat
      Yeah

      Zelenskyy is the commander in chief of the Russian military

      He ordered the invasion while Putin was in the corner crying

    3. Yes, I’m sure he knows all about turning tricks. When I served, this creep would have been kicked down the road so fast, he wouldn’t have known what hit him. His military file is categorized under the heading, “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”

    1. @Silver I was referring to Russia. the last time Russia invaded a country. Please stay focused. The topic of the video is Russia

    2. @Scott Sehm no, the Soviet Union built most of the infrastructure of Ukraine. In particular the apartment buildings which is how Russia knows to hit them in the middle of the building & collapsing it on top of the bomb shelter below the apartment building. Haven’t you noticed all these apartment building have the most damage in the middle? Bet they have the same style apartment buildings in Russia & likely still have the Soviet era architecture blueprints. Oh, & since Ukraine was part of the USSR, it was likely Ukrainian’s who did the actual work.

  1. Let me see if I got this right. Unprovoked attack & bombing of civilian targets, hospitals & schools isn’t terrorism. While a strategic strike on military supply line infrastructure with minimal collateral damage is?

    1. @Deborah Freedman When you say Ukraine, are you talking about the lands which were annexed from Poland, Romania, Hungary as the aftermath of the WWII, or the South-Eastern territories, which were stolen from Russia during the dissolve of the USSR in 1991? Just trying to figure out, because those 2 parts of the former Ukraine were pretty much the opposite in their opinions, but only population of one of them was being murdered for the last 8 years by the illegal Kievan government, which was installed by the US in 2014, and to give you a hint, it rhymes with Donbass… And just to give you another hint, there were no Russian troops present, when the murders began.

    2. @Mr. Nozzles the murders started BEFORE Crimea decided to move on and join back with Russia instead of trying to keep its autonomous status, which Ukraine was trying to remove from the constitution. It was Crimea’s reaction to what the illegal Kievan government was doing.
      Same as what happened in Donbass- DPR and LPR civilians had to step up and protect themselves from the government, which was illegally installed on them. The US orchestrated the violent coup, still they didn’t succeed to collect enough votes to legally vote the democratically elected president, so they sent people to physically remove him from the office. I am still amazed they didn’t murder him, like they did many others. Perhaps, they just weren’t fast enough.
      And if you try to argue any of this, I’ll have to remind you that All of this is ClA’s and the administration’s own boasting about their little “Ukrainian War on Russia” project, which they have been working on since the dissolve of the USSR in 1991, but, especially, for the last decade.

  2. It is VERY GOOD to hear from Lt. Vindman ! He knows what he is talking about first hand, he says it in a way that is easily understandable for those that have never been in the military and he is TRUSTED ! Please have him back on the show.

    1. The only thing Vindman is an expert on is all hidden in a folder or drawer labeled “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”

    1. Sun Tsu , Art of War…..Leave your enemy an escape route to flee , once you have them surrounded . If their forces are surrounded and trapped with no escape route , reinforcements might be called upon , thus prolonging the conflict .

    2. The US should finally deliver the long range missiles. I am frustrated waiting for this administration to stop tiptoeing around putin

  3. F15s, air defense systems, advanced tanks, longer range missiles, actually make it more difficult to use tactical nukes and get the war over quicker before they are insanely used.

    1. @vetrocom vetrocom most of them are from the 1970s that for years and years where not taken care of, they cant even take care of there tanks and planes what makes you think they took care of there other weapons

  4. Concerning the bridge, it should be easy to establish if the explosion occurred on top of or underneath the bridge, this does not seem to have been established yet. Without first a thorough investigation you can’t blame anyone but just speculate.

    There are many possibilities: negligence in the transportation of explosives, opposition from inside the army who instead of targeting a city chose to target the bridge, sabotage, false flag and others.

    From the rapid reaction with disproportionate and unjustified bombardments of Ukrainian cities, it becomes reasonable to suspect that the attack on the bridge could be a Russian false flag to muster/manipulate the support of the Russian allies, politicians, and population.

    An organized state would not have acted so quickly without proper investigation.

  5. That is well said, but it’s incredible to observe how years of russification affect those helping Ukrainians get rid of it. Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman called all Ukrainian geographical locations with russian pronunciation. It should be Kyiv, not ‘Kiev”, Dinrpo river, not “Dnieper river,’ Zaporizhzhia not “Zaporozie” etc.,

  6. It seems that a significant implication of the conflict in Ukraine is that Russia’s neighbors have nothing to fear from the Russian army. The army that was once considered by everyone to be the 2nd best army on the planet turns out to be what the Chinese call “a paper tiger”. I assume that China is elated by Russia’s demonstration of incompetence.

    1. That’s a very interesting idea, and the reason they’ve been a bit aloof. If Putin drains the Russian capability, China has a whole new position on the field.

  7. When Putin came to power there were a number of large explosions in Russian apartment buildings. These caused massive civilian casualties, and were used by Putin to justify restarting a war in Chechnya. Putin blamed these bombings on Chechen nationalists, but this was never proved. It was strongly suspected by many at the time that Putin had ordered elements of the Russian security services, where he had spent most of his career, to carry out these bombings to provide a pretext for war. In fact, initial police investigators of one of the bombings turned up evidence pointing to Russian security services involvement. This was hushed up, and the “investigation” taken up by Russian federal police, who then managed to let the matter die quietly. For Putin to blow up the Kerch Straits bridge in order to provide a justification for escalation of the war would be entirely in character with other actions taken by the Kremlin. But let’s hope it was the Ukrainians, and that they follow it up with more.

    1. could be because only a section of the car bridge was destroyed and didn’t count on the train cars filled with gas to be collateral damage an unexpected turn of events the way Russia operates it wouldn’t surprise me

  8. Russia: The attack on our bridge was terrorism.
    Also Russia: Fires missiles into apartment buildings to kill civilians.
    I think even China is surprised at the level of cruelty and incompetence from Russia. They seem to be backing away from their crazy neighbor.

    1. Classic devils advocate… I’m aa proud American, but under no delusional of having no blood on our hands…we’re still #1,on the right side of history since our independence….

    2. @GoldenAye so you’re justify what happened to Ukraine because the NATO did it in Serbia back in 99? Two wrongs don’t make it right

  9. During the Infamous Battle of Britain, the Brits took a tremendous beating from the air strikes by Germany and it just stiffened the resolve to fight harder. German air loses eventually turned the tide of the war to England’s side. I am 100% British and proud of it and I see a toughness in the Ukrainian people, they will handle this in turn. May the NATO allies continue to supply and support the Ukrainians with what they need to over come putin.

  10. At the offset of the war, Putin sat in a room well-separated from other russian leaders. Well separated, but still in the same room. His “proportional response” announcement was said to a monitor on which, this time, the russian leadership appeared. Not in the same room, on a monitor. Not once did he separate himself so blatantly throughout the COVID crisis.

    So, I must ask. Is Putin’s beefed up security part of a proportional response to a related, but separate, personal/political crisis? Never thought I’d see President Shirtless-Alphamale running scared. It should be noted that a frightened beast is most dangerous indeed.

  11. Vindman is a hero. I read his wonderful book and it just reinforced my view of his heroism and humble way of telling the story.❤

    1. And that pony is getting awfully sick and weary. It can’t go on much longer.
      Ukraine will do the humane thing, and put it out of its misery.

    2. Ukraine is pretty much a one trick pony as well, Once the US intervened with billions in military hardware and training, Ukraine suddenly began taking back regions and winning this war. This is an American Proxy war using a slightly more competent “Ukraine” military against Russia. But I guess the facts doesn’t match your “feel good” story that Ukraine with its own military prowess is winning against Russia. This is America showing the world, even without a direct fight, it can win a conventional war, this is such a good look and probably making China think again about its ambitions on Taiwan.

    3. @S P Not quite. After 2014, Ukraine started its resistance war against Russia. US started training Ukraine troops back then. That training including reorganizing the Ukraine army along US lines. A whole new doctrine of mobility warfare needed to be taught. Having platoons led by an NCO (sergeant) who can change orders and goals depending on situation. Dropping the rigid Soviet military model is extremely important to Ukraine’s current success.

      You are right, though. The press makes it look like it is the valiance and bravery of the soldier that is making Ukraine win.

      Then, add this. The HIMARS and M-777 could not be effective without satellite and air reconnaissance supplied by US.
      Now, it is not quite a proxy war because Russia does not have a proxy. It is in there by themselves. We are supporting an ally. And, whatever you say, it is Ukraine generals and commanders that are choosing strategies, tactics, and targets. That is what the US is NOT doing.

  12. How nice to see and hear Ambassador Taylor. Had the opportunity to be in Kiev while he was Ambassador. Great leader.

  13. I’ve never heard The Colonel speak so much. Glad he spoke up and explained the situation with the ambassador.

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