Quote Originally Posted by drillerpie View Post
I listened to this the other day and I thought it was very one-sided and even contradictory at times.

He says Putin never intended to conquer all of Ukraine (ignoring a fair bit of circumstantial evidence that he intended to conquer a large part of it) and we know this because he would need 2/3 million troops to do so.

He then later says that Putin may/should try and take up to 45% of Ukraine if Ukraine doesn't surrender in time. That, by his own calculations would require 1/1.5 million troops, which he doesn't have.

I didn't find this guy particularly impressive, but I know Andy considers him the number 1 expert on that part of the world, based on what I don't know. I thought he was omitting important information to the point of being downright misleading.

Lex Friedman's laissez faire interview style didn't help. I very much hope he has another podcast lined up with a less pro-Russia / anti NATO guest to compensate for this.
If someone is saying the things you want to hear and agrees with your opinion you are going to find them impressive even if it is a load of rubbish.