Its war in Ukraine is exposing Russia's irrelevance to the rest of the world

[j brown's body]

"The war in Ukraine...has...become a slow-motion demonstration of Russia’s decline—less a catalyst of national revival than a case study in national self-harm. Moscow has devoted considerable resources, manpower, and political will to its invasion of the country next door. In purely military terms, it has managed not to lose and may even be eking its way toward some sort of attritional victory in the Donbas. But even if it consolidates its territorial gains and keeps Ukraine out of NATO, Russia will have won only a pyrrhic victory, mortgaging its future for the sake of a few bombed-out square kilometers. In other words, Russia is effectively losing the war in Ukraine—not to Ukraine, but to everyone else.

The one place Russia has effectively influenced is Europe...Putin appears to have engineered a strange geopolitical bargain: Moscow sacrifices its demographically scarce young men in the Donbas so that Europeans will finally buy air defenses. At home, Russia’s wartime economy looks like a parody of Soviet stagnation, exactly what Putin warned against in the early years of his presidency. Factories churn out shells and missiles even as the rest of the world invests in artificial intelligence, green technology, and microchips. The Kremlin has succeeded in building a fortress economy, but one that is fortified against the future more than against the enemy. This would be funny if it weren’t so tragic for Russia’s prospects: a petrostati doubling down on oil and artillery in the middle of a technological revolution. The Kremlin says it’s waging a war of destiny; in reality, it’s missing the 21st century.

...Both Russia’s defenders and its enemies suggest that a successful campaign in Ukraine will somehow produce a stronger, reinvigorated Russia capable of posing an immediate threat to Europe and beyond. But what exactly would Moscow have “won”? An angry, revanchist neighbor; a more unified, hostile Europe; a ruined economy; a gutted army; reduced international influence; and a boss in Beijing. That is not victory but self-inflicted decline.

This is perhaps why the Kremlin seems so uninterested in ending the war. A compromise peace would not expose a defeat on the battlefield but rather something far worse: the absence of any larger strategy.... ” In sacrificing its global influence for the chance to spend the past year pulverizing the previously unheard-of city of Pokrovsk in the Donbas, Russia has proved not its resilience but its near irrelevance. Russia has not rediscovered its imperial destiny. It has discovered only that it can still destroy—and that destruction is just about all that its foreign policy has to offer."

Link

 

[Tigerace117]

"The war in Ukraine...has...become a slow-motion demonstration of Russia’s decline—less a catalyst of national revival than a case study in national self-harm. Moscow has devoted considerable resources, manpower, and political will to its invasion of the country next door. In purely military terms, it has managed not to lose and may even be eking its way toward some sort of attritional victory in the Donbas. But even if it consolidates its territorial gains and keeps Ukraine out of NATO, Russia will have won only a pyrrhic victory, mortgaging its future for the sake of a few bombed-out square kilometers. In other words, Russia is effectively losing the war in Ukraine—not to Ukraine, but to everyone else.

The one place Russia has effectively influenced is Europe...Putin appears to have engineered a strange geopolitical bargain: Moscow sacrifices its demographically scarce young men in the Donbas so that Europeans will finally buy air defenses. At home, Russia’s wartime economy looks like a parody of Soviet stagnation, exactly what Putin warned against in the early years of his presidency. Factories churn out shells and missiles even as the rest of the world invests in artificial intelligence, green technology, and microchips. The Kremlin has succeeded in building a fortress economy, but one that is fortified against the future more than against the enemy. This would be funny if it weren’t so tragic for Russia’s prospects: a petrostati doubling down on oil and artillery in the middle of a technological revolution. The Kremlin says it’s waging a war of destiny; in reality, it’s missing the 21st century.

...Both Russia’s defenders and its enemies suggest that a successful campaign in Ukraine will somehow produce a stronger, reinvigorated Russia capable of posing an immediate threat to Europe and beyond. But what exactly would Moscow have “won”? An angry, revanchist neighbor; a more unified, hostile Europe; a ruined economy; a gutted army; reduced international influence; and a boss in Beijing. That is not victory but self-inflicted decline.

This is perhaps why the Kremlin seems so uninterested in ending the war. A compromise peace would not expose a defeat on the battlefield but rather something far worse: the absence of any larger strategy.... ” In sacrificing its global influence for the chance to spend the past year pulverizing the previously unheard-of city of Pokrovsk in the Donbas, Russia has proved not its resilience but its near irrelevance. Russia has not rediscovered its imperial destiny. It has discovered only that it can still destroy—and that destruction is just about all that its foreign policy has to offer."

Link

Always fascinating to see the level of desperation Western apologists have been reduced to.

Especially given the very highly publicized meetings involving Russia and a number of other countries. That hardly screams “irrelevance”

And the West trying to talk about “destruction being the only thing they can offer” when America is actively helping carry out a genocide is just utterly pathetic.

 

[Loulit01]

As I've been saying all along, Putin's failure to take Ukraine exposes the Russian military as a paper tiger. Putin is a national embarrassment.

 

[Juin]

"The war in Ukraine...has...become a slow-motion demonstration of Russia’s decline—less a catalyst of national revival than a case study in national self-harm. Moscow has devoted considerable resources, manpower, and political will to its invasion of the country next door. In purely military terms, it has managed not to lose and may even be eking its way toward some sort of attritional victory in the Donbas. But even if it consolidates its territorial gains and keeps Ukraine out of NATO, Russia will have won only a pyrrhic victory, mortgaging its future for the sake of a few bombed-out square kilometers. In other words, Russia is effectively losing the war in Ukraine—not to Ukraine, but to everyone else.

The one place Russia has effectively influenced is Europe...Putin appears to have engineered a strange geopolitical bargain: Moscow sacrifices its demographically scarce young men in the Donbas so that Europeans will finally buy air defenses. At home, Russia’s wartime economy looks like a parody of Soviet stagnation, exactly what Putin warned against in the early years of his presidency. Factories churn out shells and missiles even as the rest of the world invests in artificial intelligence, green technology, and microchips. The Kremlin has succeeded in building a fortress economy, but one that is fortified against the future more than against the enemy. This would be funny if it weren’t so tragic for Russia’s prospects: a petrostati doubling down on oil and artillery in the middle of a technological revolution. The Kremlin says it’s waging a war of destiny; in reality, it’s missing the 21st century.

...Both Russia’s defenders and its enemies suggest that a successful campaign in Ukraine will somehow produce a stronger, reinvigorated Russia capable of posing an immediate threat to Europe and beyond. But what exactly would Moscow have “won”? An angry, revanchist neighbor; a more unified, hostile Europe; a ruined economy; a gutted army; reduced international influence; and a boss in Beijing. That is not victory but self-inflicted decline.

This is perhaps why the Kremlin seems so uninterested in ending the war. A compromise peace would not expose a defeat on the battlefield but rather something far worse: the absence of any larger strategy.... ” In sacrificing its global influence for the chance to spend the past year pulverizing the previously unheard-of city of Pokrovsk in the Donbas, Russia has proved not its resilience but its near irrelevance. Russia has not rediscovered its imperial destiny. It has discovered only that it can still destroy—and that destruction is just about all that its foreign policy has to offer."

Link

If Russia is irrelevant then there is nothing to worry about

 

[Rogue Valley]

If Russia is irrelevant then there is nothing to worry about

Unless you are a Ukrainian civilian.

 

[j brown's body]

Unless you are a Ukrainian civilian.

Or a Russian citizen.

 

[j brown's body]

If Russia is irrelevant then there is nothing to worry about

Indeed, it may turn out that not directly confronting the self-destructive Putin might not be necessary at all.

 

[Rogue Valley]

Indeed, it may turn out that not directly confronting the self-destructive Putin might not be necessary at all.

That possibility is up to Putin. A few days ago 5 Russian drones violated Poland's airspace.

 

[dandolo2k]

"The war in Ukraine...has...become a slow-motion demonstration of Russia’s decline—less a catalyst of national revival than a case study in national self-harm. Moscow has devoted considerable resources, manpower, and political will to its invasion of the country next door. In purely military terms, it has managed not to lose and may even be eking its way toward some sort of attritional victory in the Donbas. But even if it consolidates its territorial gains and keeps Ukraine out of NATO, Russia will have won only a pyrrhic victory, mortgaging its future for the sake of a few bombed-out square kilometers. In other words, Russia is effectively losing the war in Ukraine—not to Ukraine, but to everyone else.

The one place Russia has effectively influenced is Europe...Putin appears to have engineered a strange geopolitical bargain: Moscow sacrifices its demographically scarce young men in the Donbas so that Europeans will finally buy air defenses. At home, Russia’s wartime economy looks like a parody of Soviet stagnation, exactly what Putin warned against in the early years of his presidency. Factories churn out shells and missiles even as the rest of the world invests in artificial intelligence, green technology, and microchips. The Kremlin has succeeded in building a fortress economy, but one that is fortified against the future more than against the enemy. This would be funny if it weren’t so tragic for Russia’s prospects: a petrostati doubling down on oil and artillery in the middle of a technological revolution. The Kremlin says it’s waging a war of destiny; in reality, it’s missing the 21st century.

...Both Russia’s defenders and its enemies suggest that a successful campaign in Ukraine will somehow produce a stronger, reinvigorated Russia capable of posing an immediate threat to Europe and beyond. But what exactly would Moscow have “won”? An angry, revanchist neighbor; a more unified, hostile Europe; a ruined economy; a gutted army; reduced international influence; and a boss in Beijing. That is not victory but self-inflicted decline.

This is perhaps why the Kremlin seems so uninterested in ending the war. A compromise peace would not expose a defeat on the battlefield but rather something far worse: the absence of any larger strategy.... ” In sacrificing its global influence for the chance to spend the past year pulverizing the previously unheard-of city of Pokrovsk in the Donbas, Russia has proved not its resilience but its near irrelevance. Russia has not rediscovered its imperial destiny. It has discovered only that it can still destroy—and that destruction is just about all that its foreign policy has to offer."

Link

Halliluya! This was what we needed so badly !!!
Just some idea of Collective West winning its proxy war ! Everybody us happy !
Russia gets Donbass and Crimea, boost in manufacturing potential , ditching the dollar out its trade , substitution of nearly all of western imports , better trade balance , less brain migration, stronger currency and many other advantages.
And the West gets a great moral victory ( in couple with inflation and recession and some other nice gifts ).
Everybody gets what it wants !

 

[Fledermaus]

Halliluya! This was what we needed so badly !!!
Just some idea of Collective West winning its proxy war ! Everybody us happy !
Russia gets Donbass and Crimea, boost in manufacturing potential , ditching the dollar out its trade , substitution of nearly all of western imports , better trade balance , less brain migration, stronger currency and many other advantages.
And the West gets a great moral victory ( in couple with inflation and recession and some other nice gifts ).
Everybody gets what it wants !

 

[Rogue Valley]

Halliluya! This was what we needed so badly !!!
Just some idea of Collective West winning its proxy war ! Everybody us happy !
Russia gets Donbass and Crimea, boost in manufacturing potential , ditching the dollar out its trade , substitution of nearly all of western imports , better trade balance , less brain migration, stronger currency and many other advantages.
And the West gets a great moral victory ( in couple with inflation and recession and some other nice gifts ).
Everybody gets what it wants !

Was that the Stolichnaya posting?

 

[tijl]

"The war in Ukraine...has...become a slow-motion demonstration of Russia’s decline—less a catalyst of national revival than a case study in national self-harm. Moscow has devoted considerable resources, manpower, and political will to its invasion of the country next door. In purely military terms, it has managed not to lose and may even be eking its way toward some sort of attritional victory in the Donbas. But even if it consolidates its territorial gains and keeps Ukraine out of NATO, Russia will have won only a pyrrhic victory, mortgaging its future for the sake of a few bombed-out square kilometers. In other words, Russia is effectively losing the war in Ukraine—not to Ukraine, but to everyone else.

The one place Russia has effectively influenced is Europe...Putin appears to have engineered a strange geopolitical bargain: Moscow sacrifices its demographically scarce young men in the Donbas so that Europeans will finally buy air defenses. At home, Russia’s wartime economy looks like a parody of Soviet stagnation, exactly what Putin warned against in the early years of his presidency. Factories churn out shells and missiles even as the rest of the world invests in artificial intelligence, green technology, and microchips. The Kremlin has succeeded in building a fortress economy, but one that is fortified against the future more than against the enemy. This would be funny if it weren’t so tragic for Russia’s prospects: a petrostati doubling down on oil and artillery in the middle of a technological revolution. The Kremlin says it’s waging a war of destiny; in reality, it’s missing the 21st century.

...Both Russia’s defenders and its enemies suggest that a successful campaign in Ukraine will somehow produce a stronger, reinvigorated Russia capable of posing an immediate threat to Europe and beyond. But what exactly would Moscow have “won”? An angry, revanchist neighbor; a more unified, hostile Europe; a ruined economy; a gutted army; reduced international influence; and a boss in Beijing. That is not victory but self-inflicted decline.

This is perhaps why the Kremlin seems so uninterested in ending the war. A compromise peace would not expose a defeat on the battlefield but rather something far worse: the absence of any larger strategy.... ” In sacrificing its global influence for the chance to spend the past year pulverizing the previously unheard-of city of Pokrovsk in the Donbas, Russia has proved not its resilience but its near irrelevance. Russia has not rediscovered its imperial destiny. It has discovered only that it can still destroy—and that destruction is just about all that its foreign policy has to offer."

Link

Exactly what I think as well! However, it's no reason to let him continue its invasion of Ukraine. And I believe we should also have some empathy for the russian people.
But, as you said, continuing the war is a necessity for Putin.
Conversaly, the demise of Putin, for whatever reason, would be an opportunity, even a blessing, for Russians as well as for the rest of the world. Indeed, any successor, except maybe a few gung-ho like Medvedev, would be free to immediately end that war as they had nothing to do with the decision to start it.
Even Lavrov, the seasoned russian Foreign Affairs minister,would find the most convincing words to condemn and villify the monstruous agression of Putin on Ukraine!