You raise valid points and I don’t think this is the kind of war where defense contractors get rich (think 20 years in the sandbox) either. However, they always make money and the beltway bandit class (all those retired military officers on boards) sure pull out the pompoms for every explosion don’t they?
Putin is not a globalist and he opposes the Davos crowd’s push towards woke liberalization and “one world governance”. He was one of the main obstacles to their stated goals and many here on FR cheered him for it.
Make no mistake.... the “global elites” hate Putin. While I may agree with his well calculated statements on political ideology pushed by the West, I still view him for what he is.... a corrupt dictator. He does not state the obvious because he is a champion of traditional values, he does it as a political calculation. Russia has always had a deep-set “us vs them” mentality and his firm statements about faith and politics plays that up.
If he were a “man of the people”, an image he has never cultivated by the way, he would be giving a million dollars to the family of every Russian soldier who was killed in the Ukraine. He would NEVER run out of money. His wealth is incalculable and he is probably the wealthiest person on the planet.
Putin’s biggest miscalculation (among many) beginning his “special military action” was that he made little effort to really sell it to the Russian people so instead of a conflict that most Russians view as a fight for their own survival they view the whole thing as “Putin’s war”.
That does not exactly excite anyone to go put their life on the line for a “leader” who is not all that connected with the people. The “apathy” in Russia for whoever sits at the head of the table in the Kremlin is legendary.
This war is shining a light on the issues of nationalism, and national self-interest, which is exactly where the globalists do not want a spotlight to shine. After all, they were the ones pushing NordStream and European reliance on Russian gas so heavily. Now...that's a dead issue.
I don't think there are any winners in this war, but as of now, both sides view a loss as unacceptable to the continuation of the war. Just speaking historically, I would expect that it will be the Russians who eventually back down because they still keep their own country even with a loss. The Ukrainians do not, so they'll fight until the end.