(January 26, 2023 at 10:09 am)GrandizerII Wrote: clearly, things aren't going well for them, and they know that the Western powers weren't going to sit by and just watch. I know, hindsight is 20/20, but this is the situation Russia is in now. And both Russia and Ukraine are suffering because of it.
No doubt at all that both countries are suffering for it.
But I think the situation is less bad for Russia than Western media makes out. Most of what's available in English-language "news" is wildly skewed.
In fact two thirds of the people on earth live in countries that are neutral in the war or pro-Russia.
https://country.eiu.com/article.aspx?art...+stability
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The people in these areas get different news than the anglophone world, or Western Europe, or Japan.
They hear that Russian forces are advancing slowly but surely, taking one town after another. For example before Soledar was taken, US spokesmen said it was strategically important, but after it fell they said it wasn't strategically important. US media, when it finally admitted the fall of Soledar, said it was a Pyrrhic victory because Russia lost so many soldiers. But Russia didn't pause at all, and was able to continue its advance, which is still going on.
Two different Ukrainian officials, in interviews with journalists not in the US propaganda bubble, said that Ukraine is losing soldiers at a terrible rate -- far faster than Russia is -- and that the war cannot be sustained if this rate continues. There are dozens of videos of Ukrainian soldiers dragooning civilians off the street.
We hear constantly that Ukraine is winning, which is not consistent with their constant begging for new and better weapons. Or with the fact that 20% of what they consider their territory is occupied -- and the % is growing. It's not consistent with the fact that half their energy infrastructure is gone for the foreseeable future. Or with the fact that many of their top defense officials were just fired for corruption. In addition they have lost their sovereignty -- the US has had veto power over their government officials since at least 2014, and now that Zelensky has turned the country over to BlackRock, Goldman Sachs, and other vultures the Ukrainian people will be subject to Neoliberal austerity like every other country that the bankers take over. Their institutions and resources no longer belong to them.
Meanwhile Putin knows that wars are not only fought on the battlefield. Despite sanctions Russia's economy is doing well. Many of the Western countries who announced they were pulling out of Russia haven't really done so. Those companies that did pull out (e.g. Starbucks and McDonalds) have been replaced by local owners, so the money stays in the country. Meanwhile Russia and China are pushed closer together economically as the Russian market opens up for Chinese goods, including their booming auto industry.
Russia is selling more oil and gas than ever, despite supposed sanctions. A lot of this goes to India, who repackages it and sells it to England at an enormous cost mark-up, meaning the British get the same gas they would have, but more expensively.
And rumbling along in the background is the advance of BRICS, as more people want to join, including Saudi Arabia, which is signaling the end of the petrodollar and a new multi-polar world. More and more countries are moving to ditch international transactions in dollars. Since much of America's clout was based on its being the reserve currency, when the dollar is no longer required the US will be in big trouble. Previously any country which announced it would ditch the petrodollar got a heavy dose of US "democracy," and had its leadership replaced or killed. But so far that isn't happening this time.
Putin knows that his country is winning in ways that matter more than trenches in Ukraine. This war has triggered international political changes which will hurt the US for a long time.
