RUSSIAN CRUISER MOSKVA: SLEEPING WITH THE FISHES AT THE BOTTOM OF THE BLACK SEA.

ICHEOKU once thought that President Vladimir Putin was smarter until he foolishly fell into the trap of the Ukraine war. A trap set for Russia by the West led by America, which has been long itching to humiliate Russia and reduce Putin to size. He egotistically sprung the trap and is now ensnared in it. Now, the West will bleed Russia into bankruptcy and with it, possibly end President Vladimri Putin's reign as president of Russia. It is most likely that any negotiated future normalization of relations between the West and Russia will be made pursuant to a condition precedent of his removal from office.

As America's Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Miley recently indicated, the Ukraine war will not end in a matter of months but could go on for years. In his words, the Chairman said: "It is a very protracted conflict which will be at least measured in years. This is a very extended conflict that Russia has initiated and I think that NATO, the United States, Ukraine and all of the allies, and partners that are supporting Ukraine are going to be involved in this for quite some time." The implication being that ending the war is not even a decision in the hands of Ukraine or Russia, the reason their peace negotiation has stalled; and will only be decided in some foreign capitals including Washington DC and London. 

The question now is how does Russia plan to carry on with the war and where will Russia find the huge resources necessary to sustain its war effort in Ukraine, and for the several years which the West has already planned for the war to last. Russia's economy is already taking a serious hit and if the plan to completely ban Russian oil goes into effect, how else will Russia earn income to pay for the war? The toll is heavily mounting as Russia has been suffering heavy losses, both in manpower and equipment losses. They have lost many commanding officers as well, and who knows if they are paying their soldiers or leaving their families in Russia stranded and seeking help? 

The latest of these Russia's mounting losses in Ukraine now being the sinking of their flagship cruiser named Moskva, which now sits at the bottom of the Black Sea, cavorting with marine lives and providing them shelter and a port of call as an artificial reef. It is a big punch in the guts and a direct smack on the nose of Russia, losing such a pride of Russia's Navy, regardless of the narration as to how it made its tragic rendezvoused with the rock bottom of the Black Sea. When in the Godfather, Clemenza explained the message sent by the wrapped two fishes in Luca Brasi's bullet proof jacket which was delivered to the Corleone's, as an indication that Luca Brasi is now sleeping with the fishes, dead and dumped into the deep ocean, no one in Russia or the Kremlin or Russia's navy top brass knew that a day would come when their pride cruiser Moskva would suffer a similar fate. 

A highly priced naval asset of Russia at $800 million cost, a symbol of Russia's technological prowess and naval capabilities was sent into its watery grave, ruined by two Ukrainian made and fired Neptune anti ship missiles. Although Russia, in order to save face from such a humongous humiliation, is trying to sell a different alternative reality that their prized cruiser suffered a tragic on-board explosion which incapacitated it, compromised its stability and foiled an attempt to tow it to naval repair yard and sank deep down into the dark bottom of the Black Sea. The Russian account is in fact very "Russian" as they are often very economical with the truth, otherwise why did they bomb the Neptune missiles manufacturing factory near Kyiv in retaliation?

Anyway, irrespective of which country's account of what happened to the Moskva cruiser one chooses to believe, the fact of the matter is that the menace of a cruiser has been totally and completely decommissioned. It cannot ever pose any future threat to Ukraine or any other country which Russia might decide to aggress in the future, pursuant to their imperialistic adventurism as well as other probable adversaries of Russia. It was a big maritime loss which has entered the annals of history as it compares to such other notable ship losses and wrecks in the world, including the Titanic which was doomed by an iceberg, the Lusitania which was sunk by German U-boats during World War 1 and the British war ship HMS Sheffield which was sunk by Argentina during the Falklands war using France supplied Exocet missiles.  

What Russia's exit strategy from Ukraine is and how they plan to eventually extricate themselves from the obvious quagmire which they have entangled themselves in Ukraine, nobody can safely and correctly predict. It was an avoidable miasma which President Joe Biden succinctly described as a "premeditated war of choice" by Russia. Unfortunately Russia went into Ukraine by choice, but leaving Ukraine might not be a choice which they can make by themselves alone, at least not any more, unless they want to tuck their tail in between their legs and shamefully scurry out of Ukraine in the dead of the night. Did ICHEOKU hear somebody say that America did a similar thing with their Afghanistan withdrawal? 

President Vladimir fetched for himself the ants-infested firewood and now lizards have come to  feast in his household. It is a reasonable inference that so many paramilitary agencies of the West are on the ground in Ukraine fighting and directing affairs of the Ukraine defensive war against Russia. Hopefully they will help Ukraine to courageously repel those Russian invaders and aggressors and force them to retreat back to Russia. More Russian ships should be targeted for destruction and sinking. Russia's military formations and operational bases throughout Ukraine should also be fair game for destruction as Ukraine has been destroyed and has nothing to lose any more. Let anarchy be brought down upon Russian troops in Ukraine and bleed them into abandoning their foolish military adventure in Ukraine. Enough of the hedging of bets.