He has finally been indicted, and Hillary hasn't

The nasty guy has finally been indicted. Yay! I had heard it wouldn't happen until the end of April because the grand jury hearing evidence had planned to take two weeks off for Passover and Easter. It looks like they decided to issue the indictment before their break. The exact charges are still under seal, so much of the news is only that the indictment has been issued. So there are just a few thing to discuss. An Associated Press article posted on Daily Kos has details of the case behind the charges – Stormy Daniels was paid money by Michael Cohen to keep silent about her affair with him. Then Cohen was reimbursed in ways that violated campaign laws. Kerry Eleveld of Kos reported a Quinnipiac University poll found 57% of Americans believe criminal charges should disqualify him from running for president, though 75% of Republicans say criminal charges make no difference. 69% say he acted in his own interests, not out of concern for democracy. And various polls still put him well ahead of any Republican challenger. Walter Einenkel of Kos has various reactions to the indictment. I’m including it only because Greggorio reminds us Hillary Clinton – the target of many “Lock Her Up” chants – has not been indicted. Laura Clawson of Kos reported that, as expected, Democrats are praising the indictment and calling for the rule of law to play out and Republicans are ranting how this is politically motivated, a travesty of justice, and a dark day in America. In a pundit roundup for Kos Greg Dworkin included more reactions, including Greg Sargent urging us to ignore what the right is saying about it. There are also lots of cartoons about it at the top of the comments. Molly Crane-Newman, a court reporter in New York where the indictment was issued, tweeted:

Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg has been inundated with a deluge of racist death threats amid his office’s historic criminal case against Donald Trump. “Remember we are everywhere, and we have guns,” reads one in a trove of emails obtained by the Daily News.

And enough of that. Catching up on the war in Ukraine. A week ago Mark Sumner of Kos reported that US Abrams tanks may arrive in Ukraine sooner than originally expected. This is because the US will be giving them older style tanks rather than wait for the model rolling off the assembly line. In this case “sooner” means this fall rather than winter or next year. The item I found most important from this post:

According to the U.K. analysis, Russia is having to turn training for their own troops over to the “less capable” Belarusian army, because their own training instructors “have largely been deployed in Ukraine.” This is what is known as “eating the seed corn.”

Patricia Marins tweeted:

The 3 biggest Russian tank factories are idling due to electronics. The Uralvagonzavod, Omsktransmash and Kurganmashzavod are working with semi-finished armored vehicles. This is when you produce the unit, but didn't assemble the interior equipment, extern sensors, etc.

Kos of Kos explains why not getting those Abrams tanks until fall is just fine. These tanks take a great deal of logistics and maintenance and setting all that up is a hard job and will take a while. Kos discussed a Russian claim that Ukraine has 50-100,000 drones for use in the upcoming spring counteroffensive. That’s highly doubtful. But if it were true ... it would make a significant difference in the battlefield, especially if the drones were the inexpensive kinds that are $700 and cheaper. Kos explains what the drones could do in trench warfare. Also, Ukraine certainly has a lot more than zero drones. Sumner has noted a definite trend in the number of assaults along the front. It has been going down through March. However, it may be too soon to tell whether it shows a decline in Russia’s ability to mount an assault or they are bracing for the expected Ukrainian attack. In the meantime Russian propagandists are lamenting Kyiv still has lights on. Russia isn’t launching enough missiles to keep residents of Kyiv suffering. Sumner noted the drop in missile launches could be because Russia is getting low on that costly item. It could also be because the tactic didn’t work – damaging Ukraine’s infrastructure was supposed to get the populace fed up with being cold. But it only renewed their defiance.