it didn t. it is because of the toughness of the people like the ones we just watched. think of their brothers and fathers and cousins, sisters back home who are still in the fight. as long as that resolve is present, the russians are fighting on territory that is not generous to them. they re far from home. they re fighting people determined to protect their land. it is a reminder of why this war is going to go on. why russia didn t in the beginning and isn t now sweeping the victory. it s because of the tough people. very tough people. ruth, i m just curious, again, this could be a very long, grinding war. i m just curious, though, how vladimir putin survives a long, grinding war against the united states and the eu supplies, where i said before the war, it made no sense because, together, we had economies of over $40
policies, and competency. autocrats get into trouble when their incompetence, which 245i they all have, is exposed. we had a lesson in awe thok rah autocracy. no wonder they invest so much in warfare, it is to cover up the incompetency because of professionalism, compromised military. the reason so many generals have been killed, and we re up to 24 senior commanders, is that the troops, many of them are conscripts. they re not very disciplined. so when you have that situation, you have to have more senior people there on the field. then they re getting killed. so we re living through this profound exposure of the wreckage of autocracy, the destructiveness of it. that s why people are starting to speak out. we have to follow that very carefully. you know, ruth, i wanted to
reinvigorated as ever. columnist for the washington post, david ignatius. also professor of history at new york youth, ruth. thank you for being with us. i was talking to richard haass earlier today and general twitty. we find ourselves in this difficult position, i think. i will say, perhaps i m being a bit too optimistic for the ukrainians, but just as they get russians got ran out of the kyiv area, i suspect they re going to have trouble because of their logistical problems, because of their morale problems, because of a military culture that is rotted to the core, and making great progress in the donbas. we have the sec def talking about it we re in it to drain the russians. we re in it to win it.
that s not in the nature of autocrats. indeed, now people s eyes are watching moldova. the logic we re seeing, like a civics lesson in what i call ladies and gentlemen stage autocracy. when you ve made a blender, you can t back down constitutionally, psychologically, so you actually do the opposite of what people expect, which is you become more excuse me more aggressive, more imperialist, more repressive. and it leads to nothing good. all right. professor of history at new york university, ruth bin-ghiat. and the washington post david ignatius. thank you both for being on. ahead, we ll go to atlanta for a live report as a special grand jury will be seated in a case against former president trump and his allies. when he called the secretary of state, who was counting the votes, and said, hey, buddy, i need you to find me one more