Does capturing territory pay in this time period The cost to manage a society that is on the poor side has to be a financial loser. You can steal all their production and steal the crops....but you still need to provide decent services to the population Those services are not cheap like they were in the last 100 years
Viewers will note the binary mind getting lost again. I emphasized that our adversaries have the advantage of having strong leaders who advanced their country's goals even if we did not agree with those goals and the Comrade's 5 watt bulb had an overload.
Our adversaries have the advantage of complete dictatorial control over their country's resources and military. No US president can exercise unilateral control over the military or strongarm the economy to do exactly what they want... Xi and Putin can basically do whatever they want....trump and biden have to kiss Congress's ass to get anything even remotely popular to pass...
We got all that. On the other hand most of those dictator types also live in a world where they are more accountable in a different kind of way. ie. their countries play rough with those who cannot survive. Not just their foreign enemies but domestically as well. You would not want to be a general or the president in Russia or China or Iran if you were responsible for AFG withdrawal or the like. You don't just go back to your General Milley job. And of course the dictator types - if they survive and arrive at the top- do not want to nor do they have to focus on foolishness the way Americans do.
You're right. Putin ultimately wants to be loved. He wants the old Soviet block states to adopt Russian sympathy and become vassal states so he can wage his never ending war with the west. The problem is Eastern Europe has no love for the ruskies. They want a western style of life - unlike @TreeFrogTrader who loves Russia so much he actively advocates turning our free society into a right wing ethno state because he can’t stand American democrats. So anyway Putin is like a scorned lover if Ukraine won’t love him then he’ll just threaten them with war until they live him. The problem is just as you stated, what happens when the dog actually catches the car? Then what he has an open war zone and an insurgent population. Don’t forget Russians gunned down Ukrainians in like 2014 and that’s what ultimately broke their ties. It sucks to be Putin but at the end of the day it’s push this agenda or ultimately lose to the west for once and for all. And he’s still going to lose in the long run anyway.
And right on que, you push the Russian narrative to undermine our military with pictures of a transgender admiral. You’re an asshole.