Chris

It’s also worth pointing out that ‘don’t poke the bear’ is one of the most successful psy-ops of the 20th and now 21st century, perpetuating the myth of Russia as the all-powerful second greatest military on earth and, so far, helping achieve Russia’s foreign policy aim of limiting western aid to Ukraine because western governments are, on a very deep and visceral level, scared of what Russia might do if provoked.

The reality is, Russia is only the second greatest military in Ukraine, and has achieved minimal gains in exchange for vast losses of men and equipment that for the most part it cannot replace. The whole sorry episode could have been settled long ago had the escalation management obsessives in the Biden administration not been running the show prior to 2025.

And sadly, little will change in the next couple of years unless and until Europe gets over its dependence on America and its irrational fear of Russia and starts to take charge of things. For whatever bizarre and possibly perverted reason, Donald Trump craves Putin’s approval and admiration above all others and no matter what words he utters to appease US Republicans (who by and large do not like Russia, or Putin), he simply isn’t ever going to finally run out of patience or honour any deadline he seems to have set.