ICHEOKU says it reminds one of the biblical lamentations of David in 2 Samuel 1:20 following the slaying of Saul and Jonathan on the mountains of Gilboa. Is "tell it not in Garth, publish it not in the streets of Ashkelon, lest the daughters of Philistines rejoice, lest the daughters of the uncircumcised triumph", the fate which now awaits Russia? Has Russia been slain, lost its former glory as a worthy military adversary? Are foes of Russia and those in competition for world domination with Russia now about to rejoice in their triumph over Russia?
Where is Russia's David that will mourn since China's President Xi Jinping is not ready to play the role? A cunning, very shrewd man who is more worried about his 1.6 billion domestic troubles and possible confrontation with America's led West over Taiwan than to spend his capital on being in lockstep with Russia. President Vladimir Putin thought that he had a friend in Beijing but has since sorely found out that self preservation is the first rule of nature, and that in international relations, every country places their own wellness above any other thing including having friendly relations with other countries.
As a result, Putin has found himself all alone on the lonely highway of world's isolation as a pariah and he must be privately regretting his obtuseness in proceeding with the invasion of Ukraine, admitted, he maintains a straight face when the camera is recording. It is now he against the world and as an African proverb or saying goes, when a single person cooks for the public they can easily finish the meal; but when the public cooks for a single person, it is extremely difficult and an impossibility to finish the meal. This is the fate of Putin and he is no longer smiling. His end is near, very near indeed. His presidency, freedom and/or even his life are all at stake because going back to the default status-quo ante is not an option.
More than 78 days into the war, the story does not look good for Russia as it is unable to conquer and vanquish its smaller neighboring country Ukraine, leaving many pundits wondering how Russia would otherwise fare in a war with a much stronger formidable adversary such as the United States of America or the coalition of the willing nations aka NATO? If its performance index in the current war with Ukraine is so glaringly below par, imagine what the ratio would be in a war with America or the broader NATO, including such countries as Turkey, Britain, Germany, France, Spain and Italy, as well as other smaller countries that constitute NATO joining forces to fight Russia.
If there is anything known as a clear case of an "ass whooping", such a war would eminently so qualify as the balance of hostilities would be greatly tilted against Russia. Even their nuclear arsenal will not be able to save them as they can only destroy so much before they are completely wiped off the face of the earth in a collective retaliatory strikes by all the nuclear power countries that make up NATO. So, conventional weapons it will be and the unfolding evidence in Ukraine shows that they are not heavily adept and fares badly in that department.
In fact, it does not even really matter what they called it, whether a "Special Military Operation" or by its correct name, WAR; their weapons are being destroyed and their soldiers are being killed in unfathomably very large numbers, both indications of a war which is not going so well for them. They have not shown any special skills in the fields of battle nor displayed stellar ability as a fighting military force to reckon with. Ukraine is still standing tall fighting, regardless of their obvious disproportional deficits in military personnel and weapons, and faced with a hitherto much touted "world military superpower". But not anymore as Russia has been unmasked by the current war in Ukraine as a great pretender and at best, a hollowed out, spent-force of its former reputation as a military superpower.
Was this loss of fortune avoidable, you bet they were. But an egotistical maniac who thought that he has intimidated the West into a cowering corner and that an abandoned Ukraine would tremblingly surrender to his columns of armored tanks, rudely found out that things are not always what they seem; and that war fortunes could easily turn on a dial and mire a once "superpower" in a quicksand, staring at a defeat. As development shows, the war in Ukraine might eventually swallow the once reputed mighty army of the world and consign Russia into history as a "once upon a time" military might.
Regardless of how the hostilities in Ukraine eventually conclude, Russia has been demystified as not as strong militarily, as it was once feared. It is a great disservice to mother Russia's military veil and only President Vladimir Putin is to blame for piercing it; and by doing so, he brought a great odium to mother Russia's reputation and respectability as a military force to fear. A smarter Putin would have yielded to the world's plea not to invade Ukraine or beaten a fast one thereafter, so soon following the first wave of attacks, hanging such a decision on the peace talk it held with Ukraine. He did not listen and now he is going down with the sinking Russia into the abyss of a despicable human.
President Vladimir Putin miscalculated and it has backfired. He took off the mask of the masquerade and revealed that Russia is but a clay-foot military giant. This will haunt Russia for many years to come and like Germany's forced surrender, the terms of forgiving Russia will be very steep. It might also include getting rid of Vladimir Putin as Russian leader, prosecuting and locking him away for good as a bloodthirsty vampiric war criminal. It is sad how Russia has been demystified and sadder that it was a self-inflicted hurt and only one man named Vladimir Putin was responsible for it. What a shame.
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