Wed Sep 25 04:01:00 UTC 2024: ## Russia’s Victory in Ukraine: A Tactical Win, But a Strategic Loss?
Andrei Martyanov, a Russian emigre and military strategist, argues in his new book, “America’s Final War,” that the West is woefully unprepared for a conflict with Russia. He criticizes American military thinking, claiming the West is caught in a self-reinforcing echo chamber that prevents it from seeing reality.
Martyanov points to the Western response to Russia’s “Special Military Operation” in Donbas as a prime example of this flawed thinking. While the West predicted Russia’s defeat, Martyanov accurately predicted Ukraine’s loss, arguing that Western propaganda fueled a dangerous illusion of victory.
He praises Putin for his restraint, arguing the Russian leader has avoided a wider war despite relentless Western provocations. While Martyanov sees Russia’s military actions in Ukraine as a strategic victory, American economist Paul Craig Roberts disagrees.
Roberts believes Russia’s actions were tactically successful in pushing Ukrainian forces out of Donbas but strategically flawed. He argues Putin’s decision to limit the conflict to Donbas, instead of targeting Kiev and sealing Ukraine’s borders, ultimately led to escalating Western involvement.
Roberts suggests Putin may have misjudged the true enemy, focusing on the puppet regime in Kiev rather than the neoconservative forces in Washington, London, Berlin, and Paris. He warns that Putin’s failure to recognize the depth of Western animosity towards Russia could lead to a wider conflict, even World War III.
Roberts concludes that while Russia may have a sound war strategy, its failure to understand the true nature of the Western threat, as outlined in the Wolfowitz Doctrine, has resulted in a strategic misstep that could have dire consequences.
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