Only thing I am going to mention is that most people really misunderstand Russia itself. Russia is relatively powerful for the region but geographically isolated. It is a massive country that can’t do shit with 95% percent of its country. Russia *needs* to go west to grow. Russia *needs* Ukraine more for its transportation routes into Europe than for the unrealized resources in eastern Ukraine. Russia will not stop looking to take over Slavic countries.
We can do that AND we can take over entire countries and hold them for decades if we want to. Our military is literally stronger than ever. Our economy and dollar crushes every other country, bloc, and hemisphere greater than ever before. Our greatest weakness is the Americans who believe America has become weak are a bunch of complainers who have never experienced hardship.
Usable Land for Practical Purposes Russia: Only about 30% of Russia's land is considered usable for practical purposes like agriculture, habitation, and industrial activity. USA: Approximately 70% of the USA's land is usable, benefiting from a more favorable combination of climate, terrain, and infrastructure. The USA has more than twice as much arable land as Russia. North America including Canada and Mexico, far more so.
Yeh, well, indeed but Russia has complicated things for itself. It is becoming a colony of China and while it is true- as you say- that it needs Slavic and Central Asian countries to grow it is also true that China is trying to colonize them directly now rather than using Russia as its regional agent as it was just a few short years ago. And to make it complicated-er and complicated-er, some of those countries- such as K-stan - are dealing directly with the west as part of the mix. We know what Russia needs, but Russia does not always get and is not necessarily set up to get what it needs. China will be more than glad to play a major reconstruction role in Ukraine and put their belt and road through there, which bumps up against Vlad's plans too.
Given the UA's plans to join EU, it will be interesting to see, how big of a role, Chinese will have in rebuilding it. News about Chinese companies, winning competitions, to build highways in Poland, aren't met with open arms. Also, given that Chinese supplied ammo/tech to russia, how will Ukrainians react to Chineses - rebuilding their country ? I guess, if they offer a small enough price, the grudges will go out through the windows. Everything written above goes into garbage bin, if you had in mind the occupied parts.
Well, yes, China is not the preferred go-to source for reconstruction funding but neither is Ukraine going to sit there with cities and ports in rubble if the west is not providing a Marshall Plan type of funding. That is the game the rest of the world-including the undeveloped countries in Africa and South American play with the U.S. so why would it be any different with Ukraine? There are countries all around the world that do not like to do business with China but do more and more each year. The best way for Ukraine to go would be to partner with Poland which is becoming stronger economically and militarily as "the new Germany." But in the end, Ukraine will partner where it needs to partner. Poland shares a common interest in keeping the Soviet and Chinese influence contained. The UK and France are always running back and forth to Ukraine convincing them how helpful they are but in the long run they are as useless as tits on a nun. They don;t have the military or the economy to help Ukraine and neither one of them could hold off a Russian attack against their countries for more than two weeks. Poland and Finland are smarter, have more advanced economies and are prepared to fight with Ukraine if Russia tries to advance beyond certain red lines. Maybe Justin Trudeau and Canadian military could airlift some maple syrup to Ukrainian troops if things got really bad. Just to think outside the box for a minute, Japan might play a role in Ukraine reconstruction too.
Russian ship possibly heading to Syria for base evacuation sinks off Spanish coast Ukrainska Pravda Tue, December 24, 2024 at 8:44 AM GMT+2 2 min read The Russian cargo ship Ursa Major has sunk in the Mediterranean Sea between the Spanish city of Águilas and Algeria’s Oran after an onboard explosion. Source: Spanish media outlet La Verdad, as reported by European Pravda Details: The Spanish maritime rescue service transported 14 crew members to the port of Cartagena, but two remain missing. According to La Verdad sources, an explosion occurred aboard the vessel around 12:30 on Monday, 23 December, causing it to list. The area was subsequently marked as hazardous for shipping until a Russian military ship arrived to oversee rescue efforts. https://www.yahoo.com/news/russian-...UewTLgfg_OKTCilIdxOE290sZdwde463Y4o5RSKEESnxu
Nothing quite says "Winning" like a movie studio donating 75 year old tanks that they were using as props, to the war effort. Russia’s war machine is running on fumes as industry warns of bankruptcies and the Kremlin gets old tanks from movie studio https://www.yahoo.com/news/russia-war-machine-running-fumes-232633149.html