[Sundancefisher]

Originally Posted by Sundog57

Putin took what he thought was sure bet.
Oops
Actually double oops.
If he had been able to roll in to welcoming crowds like he thought was going to happen, he would have taken over some very valuable real estate and industrial sites, enhancing Russia's position in the world economy.
Unfortunately the Russians have now blown the **** out of everything they have touched.
The Azov Steel Works, once one of the biggest producers of stainless in the world is now a shattered mess and will take billions to rebuild if that ever happens.
The hugely productive agricultural land in Ukraine is now strewn with mines, dead bodies and unexploded ordinance - it's gonna be a brave farmer who runs a disker or a harrow through that mess
They have wrecked the power infrastructure and the generation grid.
We are talking billions upon billions of dollars in investment to return things to even a semblance of normalcy so even if the Russians win the cost of occupation is likely to be astronomical.
They are going to win a destroyed country with little in the way of productive capacity and what population remains are likely to be hostile.

Anyone who thought that the West should stay out and let the Russians do it, needs to re-read their history books with an emphasis on Neville Chamberlin and "peace in our time" - standing back would have ended up with Moldova, and most of the previous Soviet sphere of influence under direct Russian control with a bellicose Russia at the borders of Nato and back to the Cold War.
The only solution now is to continue to support the Ukranians with arms, ammunition and training until it becomes too expensive for Putin to continue.
Given that they have lost something to the tune of 900k personnel killed or injured to no discernible gain, that day may come sooner than we think.

PS The Chinese have had their eyes on Russian resources for centuries. Now they are getting them for a bargain price without shedding a drop of blood.
They have their two major rivals for world domination at each other's throats and spending huge sums of money and amounts of military hardware.
They will be left with a neighbour who is more or less destitute both financially and militarily and who will be beholden to them

No wonder Xi is smiling in most pictures

X2