It's clear military superiority does not translate into an ability to control events on the ground.
Despite a decade trying, Russia failed in Afghanistan, US and the West failed in Korea, Vietnam Afghanistan and Iraq. Sadly the outcome has generally been impoverishment, not economic and social improvement.
The best outcomes may be:
- Putin to redefine success in a very much more limited way to save face
- Putin to be deposed - probably by his inner circle, not public uprising
Sanctions need to be stepped up to the max. That a large part of the pain will fall on the Russian public does not cause me a problem. We should also review our long term political and economic strategy with others (China and India) if they fail to apply similar constraints.
We should rapidly upscale our defence capabilities to ensure that Putin (or any other similar regime) is dissuaded from even trying in the future.
|