Israel's successes in Iran have exposed Russia's weakness as a military power

Interestingly, in 2022, Russia clearly intended to defeat Ukraine in much the same way that Israel is now striking Iran - quickly and decisively.

But it made catastrophic mistakes, was fundamentally incapable of carrying out such an operation, and fatally underestimated Ukraine - a consequence of the endemic culture of propaganda, deception, and self-deception in a dictatorship.

The result was a failure: the expected quick campaign turned into a protracted ground war and a dead-end quagmire.

In the medium term, this defeat is likely to deprive Russia of the status of a great military power in the traditional sense.

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