Putin Has Already Lost the War

Townhall ^ | 03/04/2022 | Ivan Eland

[kiryandil]

Ivan Eland is a NeverTrump cuck.

[Skywise]

Uh-huh.

Possession is 9/10s of the law, dork.

[Renfrew]

Indeed. Putin will still likely prevail in conquering Ukraine, but there is no way he can hold it. His war was premised on the Ukrainians not being a real nation and not being willing to fight for their country. He was very wrong on that.

[alexander_busek]

The famous war theorist Carl von Clausewitz told us that “war is the continuation of politics by other means.” The key word here is “means.” In other words, wars should have a clear political objective on what the use of force is supposed to achieve.

Writer is confusing "means" with "ends."

The objectives which one wishes to achieve are the "ends."

The ways and methods of achieving that objective are the "means."

Clausewitz's quote says nothing about the particular objectives which one wishes to achieve.

Of course, having clear objectives is advisable - however, the quote cited here does not deal with that.

Regards,

[MinorityRepublican]

The Russians lost the first Chechen War. They destroyed Gronzy the second time around. Now it is a loyal province of the Russian Federation.

The Russians are able to conquer Ukraine. The catch is that there may be no one left and all the buildings would be reduced to rubble in that scenario. The Romans did it too Carthage. Kyiv is a special city and I would say that the Russians wouldn't want to destroy the city completely.

[Tipllub]

If they can just get Zelensky to flee to exile that might break their will to fight.

[Equine1952]

This is three level chess. A game of wits ( watch the princess bride). The world is being played by Globalist for their own gain. Putin will win in the end and the world will lose. He is a pawn, how long he last doesn’t matter. The Ideal lives on. Good against Evil are the players.

[sockmonkey]

Word is Zelensky’s fled to Poland. Who knows?

[ukie55]

Only if the ccp doesn’t help him, he can’t fight the whole world alone.

[MinorityRepublican]

He wouldn’t surrender so that’s why the Russians are looking for him. He should think about leading from behind the front lines in Poland. He’s a symbol. So he should keep himself safe. He’s much bigger than himself. As long as the Ukrainians know he’s alive, they’ll be motivated to fight for their country.

[irishjuggler]

“but there is no way he can hold it.”

It’s certainly hard to imagine him successfully holding a country as big as this one with a population of 40+ million most of whom who hate him and don’t want the Russians there. The only way I can imagine him possibly pulling it off is if he succeeds in running maybe 20-30 million Ukrainians out (i.e., depopulating the country and “cleansing” it of pretty everyone willing and able to fight him)... and then replacing them with cooperative folks willing to relocate from Russia.

An analogy on a much, much smaller scale would be the “settlement” of Ulster (Northern Ireland) in the 17th century where the English basically ran the native Irish out (forcing them west and south) and replaced them with English and Scottish settlers. Did it work? Well, sort of, though the fallout and hard feelings from that obviously lingered for centuries.

[HamiltonJay]

Wow what claptrap….

A week old war is lost because it didn’t end in a week?

What stupidity.

[AndyTheBear]

The good news is that Putin has likely already lost the war politically, no matter if he finally subdues Ukraine.

The headline said nothing about this "politically" qualifier. The headline was a lie.

[algore]

Is there not some old saying

Nothing ventured, nothing gained?

And In the interests of disclosure and transparency I certify that I have and have had no financial interests in this conflict within the last 40 days.

[Equine1952]

I’m not sure I totally agree with your post and why you would care I can’t fathom. However, I think the” lingered” should be changed to “still linger”. I’m sure they still do. IMO. Regards

[alexander_busek]

A week old war is lost because it didn’t end in a week?

But the author quoted von Clausewitz (though inappropriately), so he must be right!

Regards,

[jdsteel]

Yeah, but there’s not enough Russians to do that. The birth rate has been lousy.

And Ukraine is the breadbasket of Europe. It’s gonna be hard times in Europe, good times for American farmers and expensive times for US citizens.

[Angelino97]

Of course, having clear objectives is advisable

True. I was saying over 15 years ago that the U.S. has no clear objective in its "War on Terror." Nobody could tell me what victory was supposed to look like, or how invading Afghanistan, then Iraq, was supposed to "end Terror."

[FreedomForce]

I still think the question is how much of Ukraine will Putin settle for to leave the rest of Ukraine alone. How much for a win and how much for a loss?