“It’s not about drugs. If it was, Trump wouldn’t have pardoned one of the largest narco traffickers in the world last month. It’s about oil and regime change. And they need a trial now to pretend that it isn’t. Especially to distract from Epstein + skyrocketing healthcare costs,” she claimed in a social media publication.
It’s not even regime change, the old Maduro supporting regime is still running the show. The VP was on a visit in Russia when this happened.
I find it interesting that they are very weak in a traditional military sense, but their intelligence, posturing and political power is stupidly effective.
It’s like they learned that information is the new warfare and trained on that while letting their traditional forces fall apart.
After USSR they realized they have no chance militarily, so all their work is concentrated on disinformation, sabotage and subversion.
Military was only meant to be used specifically to seal the deal once the main work was done.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foundations_of_Geopolitics
also the firehouse of falsehood was from them, which the gop adopted, steven bannon.
They’re in a multi-year proxy war with NATO and gaining ground. Can’t imagine why anyone would call that “weak” compared to, say, Iraq '03 or Serbia '99, where the countries were overrun in a matter of months.
A lot of it is the USSR’s anti-colonialist legacy. Russia inherited enormous goodwill from it’s historical geopolitical allies. And - as a trillion $/year economy with advanced technology and infrastructure - they have a lot of carrots to throw around, as well as sticks. Idk if that can last, given their increased isolation and economic contracting, but it’s been enough to coast on for decades
And with the US banging on Venezuela’s door, they’re a logical Realpolitik partner. Enemy of my enemy.
I say they’re weak because it is a proxy war. They’re going all out, while NATO powers are tangentially supplying Ukraine. If it was a direct NATO intervention, it would not be going nearly as well for them. They thought they would be in and out in 3 days, we’re approaching 4 years and it has greatly exposed how dilapidated their military infrastructure is.
The EU is plowing hundreds of billions into the fight while their domestic economies sag. Meanwhile, Russia aligned far right parties - AfD, National Rally, Reform UK - are surging across the continent.
The story of every war in history.
But then I’ve heard the NAFO heads that Ukraine would have recaptured Crimea by now. And that Putin would be arrested/killed. And Navalny would be running the country as its rightfully elected president.
All that was supposed to happen before Biden’s midterms.
Stalemated boondoggles are the point, and Russia is probably the most well equipped to satiate the industry with military surplus and bodies. They don’t need to be conventionally arms racing in this economy. No nuclear power really has to.