Putin Orders Massive Expansion of Russian Army

<![CDATA[The war in Ukraine (and now inside of Russia to a limited degree) doesn't seem to be any closer to a resolution now than it was at the beginning of the year. Ukraine has made some tentative moves into the Russian countryside and is pushing the United States and Britain for permission to use more powerful, long-range missiles to strike Moscow and other Russian military targets inside the country directly. Meanwhile, Vladimir Putin has continued to take more territory on the Eastern front while launching a counteroffensive in the Kursk Oblast, retaking ten settlements recently held by the Ukrainians. This balancing act has left some military analysts wondering if Putin's latest move this weekend is a sign that a world leader in the middle of a war is growing increasingly confident of an upcoming victory or if he's beginning to worry that he could still wind up losing. Putin just ordered the Russian army to expand its forces by nearly 200,000 troops, the largest expansion ordered by the Kremlin since the war began. That would require a significant number of new conscriptions, a policy that did not go over well with the Russian public the last time it was implemented. (Reuters)]]>