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Let’s be Honest, Putin was Winning
The Hard Truth
Now, before you comment about Russia’s troop fatalities, economic losses, political dissent, and so forth, notice that I didn’t title this article “Let’s be Honest, Russia is Winning.”
It’s clear that Russia is losing. Its international reputation is destroyed; its economy has shrunk; and countless protests have targeted military supplies in Russia making them obsolete.
But Putin doesn’t care about the economy. He never did. From conversations I’ve had with economists who have sat down with Putin numerous times, they share one big takeaway: Putin doesn’t care about his people. He talks about them like cogs in a machine, because that’s what they are for him.
That is why Putin is “winning.” He gained territory. He is restoring an imperial Russia of Peter the Great, Catherine the Great, and Joseph Stalin. That is the Russia he wants. And he has managed to do the unprecedented for a G20 nation interwoven in the EU economy: get away with annexing the territory of another sovereign nation.
The truth is that neither Russia nor Ukraine will win this war. Russia has lost thousands of troops. And so has Ukraine.
According to a report by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), published on March 10 2022, Ukraine was on a trajectory to see a…
