Bleeding the Beast
These are the demonstrably indisputable facts at this juncture of the West versus Russia war that continues to play out in Ukraine:
The empire and its European vassals have expended almost all of their surplus and a substantial fraction of their operational implements of war in a futile attempt to weaken Russia using three distinct iterations of Ukrainian proxy armies.
Three armies — each in succession armed more extensively with NATO weaponry — have been systematically wrecked. And the remnants are now reduced to mostly “combat-incapable” units.
A non-trivial proportion of the male population of Ukraine has been expended in this foolish venture. The Kiev government has resorted to draconian levels of forced conscription in a desperate attempt to fill the gaps in their lines.
Those who have identified with and cheered for the Ukraine cause in this war continue to assert that, notwithstanding the now undeniable evisceration of their team’s ranks, the Ukrainians have nonetheless inflicted a severe strategic defeat against Russia.
Laughably exorbitant and entirely fictitious Russian loss numbers are confidently cited. And from the command bunker of this beaten force, we hear the now familiar refrain:
“If only we had 100 F-16s, 1000 more ATACMS missiles, 500 more cruise missiles, 500 Abrams tanks, 500 more M-777s and HIMARS, and 5 million artillery shells … well, we could roll the Russians back to Moscow by Christmas. Or at least by spring. Or certainly no later than next summer.
“But we need it NOW!”
And the reason they need it now is because this third army that NATO managed to cobble together in Ukraine has been dismantled even more comprehensively than were the first two.
Meanwhile, quite to the contrary of the cherished delusions of those who dreamed of inflicting a mortal wound upon her, Russia — by virtually every meaningful measure — is now stronger by leaps and bounds than she was just two years ago.
People may close their eyes, press their hands to their ears, and shout “na na na na na” as much as they’d like, but they cannot alter this now readily discernible reality.
They may retort with the trope that “Russia has not taken ground; they have not conquered Ukraine. Russia is weak.”
They simply do not understand The Object of War.
The object of war is to destroy the army (or, in this case, armies) of your enemy. All other strategic objectives follow from that fundamental principle.
And, as I have argued in more or less identical terms since the Russians had, by July 2022, methodically wrecked the first iteration of the Mother of All Proxy Armies in Ukraine, Russian strategy, tactics, and operational results in this war will be admiringly studied by military historians for generations to come.
As far as the current moment in time is concerned, I submit that the Russian armed forces, fighting on their own ground, on and under their adjacent seas, and in the air above their spheres of control, constitute the most potent and battle-hardened military force on the planet.
It is also increasingly evident that a significant contingent of the military minds in Europe, London, and Washington know this to be true — at least to the degree that it has convinced them to press for a disengagement from the war against Russia, and the abandonment of Ukraine to its inevitable fate.
Yes, in thrall to their irrepressible vanity and hubris, they believe they can persuade the Russians to submit to a “ceasefire” followed by a NATO / Russia partition of Ukraine.
But that ain’t gonna fly in Moscow. Not now. Not ever.
The Russians will dictate the terms of the conclusion of the war in Ukraine, and the inept masters of the rapidly declining empire will be left to try to spin it as a “strategic victory” in the eyes of their reliably gullible populace.
As for the rest of the world, most of them correctly perceive what has really happened. They can clearly see the growing cracks in the empire’s feet of clay.
“But wait! Look over here now! We’ve got a brand new war going on; a fresh set of ‘bad guys’ who need to be vanquished.”
And so the attention-deficient western citizenry has dutifully fixed its gaze upon the “evil” Iranian-controlled Islamic “fanatics” in Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, and Iraq … and yes, even in Iran proper, if need be.
“Look! We’re sending our mighty Navy and the indomitable Marines! Oh, and those brand-new F-35s! (They’re invisible, you know.) Watch us spread ‘freedom and democracy’ among the heathen. And don’t fret about those images of what thousands of tons of high-explosive have wrought in the densely packed urban areas of Gaza. After all, they deserved it for beheading babies. Everyone deserves everything we choose to inflict upon them. Don’t forget that. Only we are the indispensable nation.”
Either way, another node of the imperial domain is being rapidly depleted of what have turned out to be shockingly limited armaments stockpiles across the entire realm.
But not to worry, the Wall Street-beholden economists remind us:
“Making money on massive trades of financial derivatives is much easier and more immediately profitable than making and selling material things. We’ll keep our soft manicured hands clean, and hire the unwashed masses of the barbarian world to make the things we need — and then we’ll pay them with freshly printed IOUs. It’s the perfect scam, and it has worked for decades now. It will work for decades more.”
Meanwhile China continues to build ships, dump US Treasury debt, and buy gold.