Dead Drop: March 4

PUTIN WANTED TO INVADE UKRAINE IN THE WORST WAY:  And he did. It’s difficult to write about a story like the invasion of Ukraine because the surprises keep coming minute-by-minute.  But one surprise we’re still trying to figure out – Russians seem to be pretty bad at behaving badly.  Slate.com had a piece that summed it up: No, You’re Not Imaging It: Russia’s Army Is Inept.They quoted B.A. Friedman, a military historian and tactician saying: “This isn’t a good army executing a bad plan. It isn’t a good army executing outdated or out-of-context tactics. It’s a bad army!” Of course, bad armies can ruin your day – or your country, but we didn’t expect this. 

ALL SIGNS POINT ONE WAY: Apparently, Bellingcat Executive Director @christogrozev shared a meme on social media showing a typical – though slightly altered – road sign in Ukraine. It looked like any old road sign you’d see with a blue background and white lettering with arrows showing driver’s the way to different locations.  Someone changed the names of the destinations, however.  The meme read, “Ukraine’s Interior Ministry asked residents to take down street signs in order to confuse oncoming Russian troops.  The state road signs agency went one step further.  (Roughly: all directions are to “go f*#@ yourselves.”