1. US warns that Russia will invade Ukraine. General disbelief, daily Russian mockery. (December 3 2021-February 24 2022)
2. Russia invades Ukraine, kills tens of thousands of people, kidnaps tens of thousands of children, commits other ongoing war crimes (February 24 2022-present)
3. Russia blames US for Russia's invasion of Ukraine (March 2022-present)
4. US warns of terror attack in Moscow. Â Putin denies any risk and mocks the United States. (March 7 and March 19 2024).
5. Terror attack near Moscow, ISIS takes responsibility, Russia meanwhile kills Ukrainian citizens with drones and missiles as it has for more than two years. (today, March 22 2024)
6. Russia's security apparatus, focused on bringing carnage to Ukraine, has failed in Moscow. Russia's leaders, focused on demonizing the US, did not protect Russians. What next? Where to direct the blame?
7. It would not be very surprising if the Kremlin blames Ukraine and the United States for terror in Moscow and uses the Moscow attack to justify continuing and future atrocities in Ukraine.
Almost assuredly Putin and the Kremlin will blame this attack on Ukraine and use it to justify another round of mobilization on top of increased attacks on civilian infrastructure in Ukraine. This is an earmarked page in their playbook. See Chechnya.
Sadly predictable...we MUST get more funding for the defense of Ukraine! Could Biden use frozen Russian assets? If not, why not?