Bedpan's military genius is just mind-boggling. Remember Kaliningrad? It was a serious thorn in NATO's side basically acting as major roadblock to NATO's Baltic states. It also gave Russia a nice ice-free naval port/base 365 days a year, something they don't have anywhere else outside of the Black Sea. This gave the Baltic fleet pretty much free reign in the Baltic Sea and could also act as a blocking force against NATO warships trying to aid the Baltic states in the event of a Russian invasion.
However, Bedpan's invasion of Ukraine altered the dynamic in a huge way. It made Kaliningrad pointless. Once Finland and Sweden joined NATO as a result of Putin's aggression it gave NATO forces another route to the Baltic states. And considering the Baltic fleet is made up of pretty much the same vessel types as the Black Sea fleet, I rather imagine the commander of the Baltic fleet is hoping and praying Bedpan doesn't try anything stupid in the Baltics.
To put it bluntly, after 100 years or so of the Soviet Union/Russia seeking to gain a dominant position over Europe and NATO, Bedpan has actually weakened Russia's position in Europe. His border with NATO has doubled in length since 2022. His conventional military has been shown to be pathetic. His weapons have proven to be not anywhere near as fucking awesome as he wanted the West to believe. He's motivated NATO to mobilize to a level that they haven't mobilized in 40 years. He's greatly exacerbating a Russian population decline that was already in full swing before the war.
Russia's infrastructure is getting more and more sketchy with fewer and fewer people to fix and maintain existing infrastructure let alone build new shit. Their Ruble is worthless and they've pretty much run out of yuan, meaning they've had to resort to some bartering. In fact most of Russia's trade with North Korea is through barter. They're literally trading food for weapons. This is not sustainable as North Korea simply doesn't have the industrial capacity that Russia needs.
And despite the "great friendship" between Russia and China, China is getting pretty irked with Putin and Russia. Despite the fact they're still aiding Russia in some ways, Xi hasn't been happy with Putin's nuclear dick-waving. He has his own plans for world domination and he ain't about to let some pasty-faced Katsap fuck that up.
Even one of Russia's more prominent propagandists just recently admitted that China was a far bigger threat to Russia than NATO was (which is what I've been saying in here for a while now). Russia has something that China wants that the US already has, Arctic territory. Back before the pandemic the CCP laughably proclaimed that China has a rightful stake/claim in the Arctic. Obviously they don't but they just need even a slice of eastern Russia that borders the Arctic to make their claim legitimate. A move like that would either cut off Vladivostok from the rest of Russia or see it become a Chinese city.
The funny/sad thing is, Russia could have had it pretty good. They've a fuck-ton of natural resource, a huge industrial capacity, and they did have some pretty smart people there until they wisely bailed out of Russia when the war began. In total an estimated 816,000 Russians got the hell out of Dodgesky while the getting was good.
Putin wanted to be known and remembered as the "strong man" of Russia who regained the lost states of the former Soviet Union, restoring Russia's "greatness" and "power". Instead, he could have been Russia's 'smart man' taking advantage of its resources and capacity and international trade and turn Russia into an economic powerhouse, surpassing any "greatness" or "power" the Soviet Union ever had. Maybe not as great as the US, or China at its zenith but still way better than any prior Russians ever experienced.
However, Bedpan's invasion of Ukraine altered the dynamic in a huge way. It made Kaliningrad pointless. Once Finland and Sweden joined NATO as a result of Putin's aggression it gave NATO forces another route to the Baltic states. And considering the Baltic fleet is made up of pretty much the same vessel types as the Black Sea fleet, I rather imagine the commander of the Baltic fleet is hoping and praying Bedpan doesn't try anything stupid in the Baltics.
To put it bluntly, after 100 years or so of the Soviet Union/Russia seeking to gain a dominant position over Europe and NATO, Bedpan has actually weakened Russia's position in Europe. His border with NATO has doubled in length since 2022. His conventional military has been shown to be pathetic. His weapons have proven to be not anywhere near as fucking awesome as he wanted the West to believe. He's motivated NATO to mobilize to a level that they haven't mobilized in 40 years. He's greatly exacerbating a Russian population decline that was already in full swing before the war.
Russia's infrastructure is getting more and more sketchy with fewer and fewer people to fix and maintain existing infrastructure let alone build new shit. Their Ruble is worthless and they've pretty much run out of yuan, meaning they've had to resort to some bartering. In fact most of Russia's trade with North Korea is through barter. They're literally trading food for weapons. This is not sustainable as North Korea simply doesn't have the industrial capacity that Russia needs.
And despite the "great friendship" between Russia and China, China is getting pretty irked with Putin and Russia. Despite the fact they're still aiding Russia in some ways, Xi hasn't been happy with Putin's nuclear dick-waving. He has his own plans for world domination and he ain't about to let some pasty-faced Katsap fuck that up.
Even one of Russia's more prominent propagandists just recently admitted that China was a far bigger threat to Russia than NATO was (which is what I've been saying in here for a while now). Russia has something that China wants that the US already has, Arctic territory. Back before the pandemic the CCP laughably proclaimed that China has a rightful stake/claim in the Arctic. Obviously they don't but they just need even a slice of eastern Russia that borders the Arctic to make their claim legitimate. A move like that would either cut off Vladivostok from the rest of Russia or see it become a Chinese city.
The funny/sad thing is, Russia could have had it pretty good. They've a fuck-ton of natural resource, a huge industrial capacity, and they did have some pretty smart people there until they wisely bailed out of Russia when the war began. In total an estimated 816,000 Russians got the hell out of Dodgesky while the getting was good.
Putin wanted to be known and remembered as the "strong man" of Russia who regained the lost states of the former Soviet Union, restoring Russia's "greatness" and "power". Instead, he could have been Russia's 'smart man' taking advantage of its resources and capacity and international trade and turn Russia into an economic powerhouse, surpassing any "greatness" or "power" the Soviet Union ever had. Maybe not as great as the US, or China at its zenith but still way better than any prior Russians ever experienced.
