{"id":1705185,"date":"2022-10-21T06:30:12","date_gmt":"2022-10-21T10:30:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1705185"},"modified":"2022-10-21T07:48:47","modified_gmt":"2022-10-21T11:48:47","slug":"why-putin-declared-martial-law-in-parts-of-ukraine-desperation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/why-putin-declared-martial-law-in-parts-of-ukraine-desperation\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Putin Declared Martial Law in Parts of Ukraine: Desperation"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">20<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fwhy-putin-declared-martial-law-in-parts-of-ukraine-desperation%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1705185&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/Balkans-e1646603843225.jpg\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" alt=\"image\" \/><\/div>\n<p><span>Russian President Vladimir Putin just <a href=\"https:\/\/www.19fortyfive.com\/2022\/10\/why-is-putin-declaring-marshall-law-in-annexed-parts-of-ukraine\/\">declared<\/a> martial law in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.19fortyfive.com\/2022\/05\/putins-next-move-he-could-impose-martial-law-on-russia-over-ukraine-war\/\">four illegally annexed<\/a> Ukrainian territories: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.19fortyfive.com\/2022\/10\/zaporizhzhia-how-a-new-chernobyl-nuclear-crisis-is-possible\/\">Zaporizhzhya<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.19fortyfive.com\/2022\/10\/ukraines-slow-death-military-strategy-to-beat-russia-in-kherson\/\">Kherson<\/a> provinces, and the so-called Luhansk and Donetsk \u201cpeople\u2019s republics.\u201d Why did he do it and what does martial law entail?<\/span>\n<\/p>\n[embedded content]\n<\/p>\n<h2>Why Martial Law?<\/h2>\n<p><span>As to the first question, the answer is obvious. Russia is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.19fortyfive.com\/2022\/10\/ukraines-big-military-goal-free-crimea-from-russia\/\">losing the war<\/a> with Ukraine, as Russian troops are being pushed back from the territories they occupied after the invasion began on February 24. In particular, the Ukrainian Armed Forces appear to be on the verge of recapturing that part of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.19fortyfive.com\/2022\/10\/watch-ukraine-launch-strikes-in-kherson-as-russian-forces-retreat\/\">Kherson province<\/a> which is situated on the west bank of the Dnipro River. Russian administrators and civilians have already begun what appears to be a mass evacuation to safer terrain on the east bank. Putin obviously hopes that declaring martial law will somehow help him stop or slow down the Ukrainian advance and enable him to retain control over the areas he still occupies.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p><span>Just how might martial law help? <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>For starters, it will have no effect whatsoever on actual conditions on the battleground, where the Russian army has consistently demonstrated remarkable <a href=\"https:\/\/www.19fortyfive.com\/2022\/10\/we-have-the-video-russian-su-34-fighter-crashed-into-building\/\">incompetence<\/a>. Nor will it affect Russia\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.19fortyfive.com\/2022\/10\/did-iran-send-drones-and-missiles-to-russia-experts-scream-yes\/\">genocidal bombardment<\/a> of Ukrainian civilians and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.19fortyfive.com\/2022\/07\/watch-russia-strikes-residential-buildings-with-mlrs-artillery-in-ukraine\/\">civilian targets<\/a>. What martial law primarily does is what the Russian occupational authorities already do: enable them to crack down on dissent and political activity, mobilize resources for the war effort, pursue genocide, and engage in systematic rape. In a rogue country that acts illegally both at home and abroad, the fact that martial law technically legalizes ongoing repressive measures is pretty much meaningless.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p><span>But martial law does <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/russia-declares-martial-law-in-annexed-ukraine-regions-b48b555f547ff6a1a59b1cad17d0e269\">permit<\/a> the authorities to <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.consultant.ru\/document\/cons_doc_LAW_35227\/7d26c4e1754d86f891581f27b402a422efd344e0\/\"><span>introduce<\/span><\/a><span> and intensify certain <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2022\/oct\/19\/russia-planning-evacuate-up-to-60000-people-kherson-ukraine\">repressive<\/a> and mobilizational measures:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>1)\u00a0 \u00a0 \u201cObjects of economic, social, and cultural importance\u201d may be moved, while civilian populations may be resettled in \u201csafe areas.\u201d Expect the Russians to dismantle factories and plants and ship them to Russia as well as to engage in the ethnic cleansing of the occupied territories by resettling Ukrainians in Russia.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p><span>2)\u00a0 \u00a0 \u201cCitizens\u201d may be drafted for labor in support of defense, to help with emergencies, and so on. Expect the Russian authorities to grab civilians off the streets and force them to work without pay in dangerous sectors of the occupied territories.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>3)\u00a0 \u00a0 The \u201cproperty of organizations and citizens\u201d may be \u201ctaken\u201d for defense needs. Expect the occupying authorities to confiscate, steal, and purloin everything they can lay their hands on. Expect corruption and contraband activities to flourish.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p><span>4)\u00a0 \u00a0 People may be stopped and searched \u201cwhenever necessary.\u201d Expect harassment of civilians to increase, thereby increasing their incentive to acquiesce in deportation to Russia.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p><span>Naturally, Putin would disagree with this assessment. Instead, he probably believes that such a mass mobilization of resources and people in defense of Mother Russia will lead to victory. The likelihood of that, however, is about as great as the ability of Hitler\u2019s Volkssturm\u2014the \u201cpeople\u2019s storm\u201d mobilization of young and old, men and women in armed units in the last months of the war\u2014to stop the Red Army in the east and the Allies in the west.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p><span>Will these <a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2022\/10\/19\/1130061627\/putin-orders-martial-law-in-four-russian-occupied-territories-of-ukraine\">measures<\/a> help the authorities fight the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.19fortyfive.com\/2022\/08\/guerilla-warfare-ukraines-partisans-are-taking-the-war-to-russia\/\">burgeoning<\/a> Ukrainian <a href=\"https:\/\/www.19fortyfive.com\/2022\/10\/ukraines-guerrilla-war-against-russia-is-making-putin-pay-dearly\/\">underground resistance movement<\/a>? Only inasmuch as they will have legalized extant repressive measures\u2014which is to say, no.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p><span>In the final analysis, the imposition of martial law will do <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/video\/russian-president-putin-announces-martial-law-in-recently-annexed-ukrainian-regions-151054917644\">little<\/a> to nothing to stop the Ukrainian armed forces and the Ukrainian guerrillas. It will only add a legal veneer to Putin\u2019s genocidal policies and enrich his cronies in the army and secret police. In that sense, martial law may even hasten the degradation of Russian rule in Ukraine.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p><span>President Biden\u2019s <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/news.yahoo.com\/biden-says-putin-only-tool-180627352.html?fr=sycsrp_catchall\"><span>assessment<\/span><\/a><span> was on the mark: \u201cI think that Vladimir Putin finds himself in an incredibly difficult position. And, what it reflects to me is, it seems his only tool available to him is to brutalize individual citizens in Ukraine, Ukrainian citizens, to try to intimidate them into capitulating. They\u2019re not going to do that.\u201d<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p><span>Will Ukrainians even consider capitulation in light of Putin\u2019s growing desperation? Will they let martial law change their strategy vis-\u00e0-vis Russia and the occupied territories? The questions are rhetorical, of course.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p><em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.newark.rutgers.edu\/about-us\/have-you-met-rutgers-newark\/alexander-motyl\">Dr. Alexander Motyl<\/a> is a professor of political science at Rutgers-Newark. A specialist on Ukraine, Russia, and the USSR, and on nationalism, revolutions, empires, and theory, he is the author of 10 books of nonfiction, including Pidsumky imperii\u00a0(2009);\u00a0Puti imperii\u00a0(2004);\u00a0Imperial Ends: The Decay, Collapse, and Revival of Empires\u00a0(2001);\u00a0Revolutions, Nations, Empires: Conceptual Limits and Theoretical Possibilities\u00a0(1999);\u00a0Dilemmas of Independence: Ukraine after Totalitarianism\u00a0(1993); and\u00a0The Turn to the Right: The Ideological Origins and Development of Ukrainian Nationalism, 1919\u20131929\u00a0(1980);\u00a0the editor of 15 volumes, including\u00a0The Encyclopedia of Nationalism\u00a0(2000) and\u00a0The Holodomor Reader\u00a0(2012); and a contributor of dozens of articles to academic and policy journals, newspaper op-ed pages, and magazines. He also has a weekly blog, \u201cUkraine\u2019s Orange Blues.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Russian President Vladimir Putin just declared martial law in four illegally annexed Ukrainian territories: Zaporizhzhya and Kherson provinces, and the so-called Luhansk and Donetsk \u201cpeople\u2019s republics.\u201d Why did he do<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1564068,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[547],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1705185","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-bongino-report"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1705185","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1705185"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1705185\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1564068"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1705185"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1705185"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1705185"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}