You are clearly not a member of the think tank community, diplomatic corps, or t

You are clearly not a member of the think tank community, diplomatic corps, or the intelligence community, and you’re what Russians consider the ‘useful idiots’ among americans. Russia is poorer than mexico. And it’s burning through decades of soviet equipment and arms. The men are sent to the front almost immediately without training. They have little ‘kit’, and are lucky if they get a rifle free or rust, and enough ammo to shoot before they’re eliminated. Ukrainians are killing them in vast numbers such that the only problem is keeping up with the volume of ammunition they’re using. RU has achieved success in holding territory seized early only because of mines, trenches, and saturation with artillery. The reason RU is keeping their air force at bay is not only because UA would shoot it down but it’s their only defense against NATO, and they can’t afford to repair or replace the planes they lose. The Israelis just proved that the vaunted russian anti air missiles are a joke. And so russia is vulnerable to air penetration. Russia’s buying ammo from post soviet third world countries. They’re dependent upon Iran for drones. The only reason they’re still in the fight is the russian people’s tolerance for mass casualties – and because they’ll kill Putin if he fails without some sort of gains.

Reply addressees: @LeSkipperse