Meet Dmitry Medvedev. For those of you who haven’t followed the progression of Vladimir Putin’s reign since 1999, or who may have thought that this grinning idiot had simply faded into oblivion, let me bring you up-to-date.

He was once Russia’s Prime Minister, during the early years of Putin’s presidency. Then — when Putin had to take a four-year break while he had the Russian Constitution amended to allow him to run for a third (and fourth, and fifth) term — Medvedev took over the title of President for four years from 2008 to 2012 . . . with Putin actually running things while officially occupying the office of Prime Minister. You might call it the ultimate job-sharing arrangement.

Following Putin’s reelection in 2012, Medvedev then went back to being PM for a while, and since then has served as Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of the Russian Federation — a more influential position than one might think from the “deputy” designation, since the chairman is none other than Putin himself.

In his earlier incarnation as prime minister, Medvedev gave the appearance of being a more liberal-leaning, moderating influence behind Putin’s throne. But that was either an exceptional job of acting, or he has since sold his soul to the devil, because he is now the ultimate hawk.

On top of which, he’s obviously gone around the bend . . . over the edge . . . off the rails . . . and down the rabbit hole.

And here’s proof:

There has been some talk, during the back-and-forth discussions of a possible peace treaty between Russia and Ukraine, of the creation of a so-called buffer zone between the two countries, to better ensure the future security of both sides. And in principle, it doesn’t sound like a bad idea.

Of course, it would take some time to work out the details of such an agreement, particularly as to the optimum size of the zone, its maintenance and enforcement, and who would finance it. We’re not talking about simply setting up a net on a tennis court here.

But Dmitry Medvedev thinks he has the answer. He is concerned that some of the Western missiles that have been provided to Ukraine may be capable of striking Russian territory from as far away as 550 km., and so the buffer zone would have to be at least that wide. In his mind, it would look something like this:

Yes, the pink part is Medvedev’s proposed buffer zone: the entirety of Ukraine, with the exception of that skinny little blue strip on the western border adjoining Poland.

Now, his rationale — the idea that Ukraine would be willing to turn itself into one gigantic, Slavic version of Korea’s DMZ — is laughable enough on its own; obviously, the territory would have to be taken by force. But consider this:

Military analysts from the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) calculated that Medvedev’s zone would occupy 587,459 sq. km. of Ukrainian territory. In their assessment, the analysts wrote:

“Russian forces advanced an average of roughly 14.3 square kilometers per day in Ukraine and Russia between January 1, 2025, and May 24, 2025. At this rate of advance, it would take Russian forces approximately 3.9 years to seize the remainder of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhia [sic], and Kherson oblasts.” [Matthew Loh, Business Insider, May 26, 2025.]

Those are regions already partially occupied by Russian forces. At that rate, according to the ISW, it would take Russia about 91 years to achieve Medvedev’s goal of seizing the rest. [Id.]

And this is the individual who sits at Putin’s side on the Security Council.

Actually, I think I feel a little better now about some of our U.S. policy-makers. But not much.

It’s a world gone mad, and the inmates have taken over the asylum.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
5/27/25