I think, Russia will soon have its very own "Dolchstosslegende".

[DetlefK]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stab-in-the-back_myth

The "Dolchstosslegende" was a fabricated myth the Nazis used to weaponize Germany's defeat in WWI against political opponents. It essentially goes like this:
"Germany was winning the war, until the Jews and the Socialists and the Democrats sabotaged the war-effort. They even negotiated the terms of Germany's surrender behind the backs of the german soldiers while they were busy winning the war."



Russia is very, very, very slowly losing the Ukraine-war. For three main reasons:

1. Russia is running out of soldiers.
The Russians love to wave flags and to sing patriotic hymns and to heap hatred upon the Ukrainians (those US-backed, Russia-hating Nazis)....................................... but none of them actually wants to join the military and die for Putin's war.

2. Russia is running out of equipment.
They are throwing everything they have at the war. Brand-new "Terminator" urban-fighting-vehicles. Cold War-era missiles. 2 weeks ago, russian WWII-tanks were photographed in Ukraine. Some infantry-units are using WWI-era Mosim-Nagant rifles.

3. Russia is running out of time.
The predominant russian tactic is to alternate between shelling the target with artillery and sending infantry into the meatgrinder to find out whether the opponent is still alive. Rinse and repeat until the target is ruins. No matter how long it takes and how many lives it costs. Then occupy the ruins and repeat on the next village down the road.



Time is a key factor in this war. Because the longer the sanctions go on, the more painful they get. Russia is slowly running out of a thousand small things. Russia's car-manufacturers have already run out of airbags. Russian airlines are running out of spare-parts for their planes. It's just a question of time until all these seemingly insignificant shortages build up to incidents.
Maybe mass-layoffs when factories are forced to shut down.
Maybe something dramatic like a malfunction because of a missing/defective spare-part.

It's not a question if Russia will lose this war. The question is WHEN Russia will lose this war. And what will Russia do afterwards?



Putin has already prepared the public: "The West is using russian traitors inside Russia to sabotage the war-effort."
https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/putins-warning-traitors-sends-chilling-message-2022-03-17/

And how will post-war Russia identify those traitors who cost them victory?

That's easy: If you have ever in your life NOT wholeheartedly supported Putin, then you are a western spy and a traitor.

ANYBODY who criticized the russian government, ANYBODY who criticized the decisions of the russian military, ANYBODY who tells war-stories other than the official history as dictated by the government, ANYBODY who has ever spoken out against Putin or anyone close to him, ANYBODY who has ever said that Russia isn't perfect and has domestic problems like corruption, ANYBODY who runs against Putin's party as a political candidate... could be arrested as a traitor.

[flying_wahini]

1. I know his Generals tried to kill him earlier...

It’s high time they tried again.

[pwb]

2. What does this little guy want exactly.

Try Peace for a while you Dick.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

3. Ukraine Has Exposed Russia as a Not-So-Great Power

Putin used to try to intimidate other countries and even NATO with his military might. The Ukraine war and ended the myth that Russia is a first tied military power

Link to tweet

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/07/rethinking-russia-ukraine-international-political-power-military-strength/661452/?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share

The best place to start is the widespread notion going into the war that we were witnessing a clash between a great power controlled by an experienced, savvy—some even said brilliant—leader and a small state weakened by national division and led by a second-rate former comedian. This great power–small power dynamic was accepted practically universally among a group of scholars and analysts who have proclaimed themselves “realists.”,,,,,

This all sounded eminently reasonable, but then Russia invaded Ukraine and the great power–small power dichotomy was revealed to be the opposite of realism. The fundamental problem was that Russia was exposed at the start as not a “great” power at all. Having sent in almost all of its frontline military units, the Russian army has seized only 20 percent of Ukraine—a far cry from its initial efforts to take Kyiv and subjugate the entire country—and is suffering horrific losses in casualties and equipment. It’s already desperately trying to regenerate its forces by finding soldiers wherever it can, even allowing citizens as old as 49 to enlist, while throwing more and more older, second-rate equipment into the fight.

Russian strength has shown itself to be so overrated that it gives us an opportunity to rethink what makes a power “great.” Going into the war, Russia’s military capabilities—including a large nuclear stockpile and what was thought to be one of the biggest and most-advanced armed forces in the world—were pointed to as the reason for its strength. What this war might be showing us, however, is that a military is only as strong as the society, economy, and political structure that assembled it. In this case, Russia was nowhere near a great power, but in fact a deeply flawed, in many ways weakening, state......

The Russian invasion of Ukraine has not been a situation in which a great power assaulted a smaller neighbor. It’s an example of a large, deeply flawed power invading a smaller, but very committed one. The balance of power between the two does still matter—but what makes up that balance needs to be much better understood.

[mitch96]

4. You forgot #4...money...Sanctions and lowering oil prices are gonna hurt...nt

[DBoon]

5. also - ANYBODY who is a non-Russian ethnic minority ...

ANYBODY who does not worship at the Russian Orthodox church

[PortTack]

6. Thx for posting!

[Chainfire]

7. One thing that Russians have always been good at is purges.

They can purge anyone who didn't back Putin sufficiently, and everyone that those people knew.