Comments by "Grenade Tennis" (@hughjass1044) on "What are Putin's strategic objectives now? | Major General Chip Chapman" video.
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"But NATO is now much stronger....." Yeah; we'll see.
There's been a lot of talk over the last few months but so far, precious little action. A wily old KGB dog like Putin knows many a trick to get around all that.
The Russians well know the weaknesses of the west and are extraordinarily skilled at playing the long game. The General is quite correct when he says the goals are to divide and weaken the EU and NATO but that's a long term project which is only in its opening stages. A few setbacks early on aren't going to throw a guy like Putin off his game.
Putin is patient and the west is vulnerable. Neither the peoples of Europe nor the US want confrontation with Russia and the armies of Europe are not up to one even if the people were behind one.. Also, Europe is heavily dependent on Russian energy and there is nothing close at hand which can even come close to replacing it.
As well, groups as divergent as the North Koreans, the Vietnamese, the Taliban, ISIS and more have shown that the way you beat the west is to drag things out and slowly grind down their will and their resolve. The west's victories need to be quick or they won't happen.
It may seem like Putin is on the back foot but he still holds an awful lot of cards. He's got the oil and gas which Europe needs, the grain and fertilizer that the third world needs, plenty of weaponry, lots and lots of cash and a population that's largely behind him.
He's not beaten yet or even been substantially weakened regardless of what the talking heads say. The opening acts haven't gone as he'd like, it's true, but that doesn't mean the next ones won't. All he'd need to do is call a halt and ask for negotiations and diplomacy and Europe; particularly France and Germany would fold like a used newspaper.
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