Ukraine’s Small Window for Total Victory
They must hold the line through the winter
Russian President Vladimir Putin met with Chinese Premier Xi Jinping in October and has since been engaged in the Middle East, meeting leaders from Saudi Arabia and the UAE. He had invited Hamas to visit Moscow and is planning a potential visit to North Korea next year. Putin’s active global engagement appears to be a strategic attempt to garner support for his administration and counteract efforts from opposing sides.
But this also shows how active Putin is in building a façade that all is well within Russia and the war in Ukraine is not something to be worried about. No one wants to be on the side of the loser, and Putin is cranking up his tours to whip up the sentiment that he is in control, he is in it to win it and he will do so.
Russia is in a desperate situation.
Every conscript rebuild his military does could be the last. Can you imagine a man who considers himself the Czar of a powerful Russian empire giving guided tours to the leader of North Korea. How far has he fallen from making leaders wait to meet him and then use psychological threats to make them feel small when in a meeting with him. He once took a dog to his meeting with former German Chancellor Angela Merkel who has a phobia about dogs.
