VD AMOK

BBC Russia Editor Steve Rosenberg:
Writing in the journal Russia In Global Affairs, which has close links to the country's foreign policy establishment, political scientist Vasily Kashin recently concluded: "The goal of eliminating the anti-Russian regime in Ukraine at the current stage is fundamentally unachievable without the complete military occupation of the entire country, including the western part, for a long period. For Russia this is technically impossible."
A few days later, pro-Kremlin tabloid Moskovsky Komsomolets quoted political commentator Alexander Nosovich: "The expert community is split between those in favour of continuing the special military operation until the goals are achieved, and those who believe it's time to end it, since the worst-case scenario is not even defeat, it's an endless special operation."

Putin remains uncompromising on Ukraine, but is public discourse on war changing in Russia? Russia is intensifying attacks in Ukraine but more than four years of war are causing concern even among Putin loyalists.

Trita Parsi: "The war in Ukraine shattered a core assumption about great-power dominance: that size and military strength are enough to impose one’s will. Ukraine showed otherwise. With the right strategy, geography, and resolve, a weaker state can survive and blunt - and in key respects even defeat - a much stronger adversary.
The United States now faces an uncomfortable parallel. The war with Iran is exposing similar limits to American power."

Iran war marks the end of American primacy as we know it For states that had opted to depend on US protection, this should be a wake-up call