I agree with most of this except maybe the "soviet empire" bit. His recent mentions of it (within the last 3 years) has been about how the fall of the Soviet Union broke up the "historical russian" borders. For Ukraine specifically he compared himself to Russian Czar Peter the Great.
A long time ago he lamented the fall of the Soviet Union which is especially hilarious as he was very likely involved in and vultured on the remains of it's demise.
> Russia was drastically unprepared for a long war
He, much like all of military officials in NATO at the time, assumed it was going to be over after they landed in Kiev.
The only exception is the pipeline, but then who could have expected that the US would sabotage an ally's ability to heat it's citizens? (assuming you ignore the last 100 years of american doctrine)
A long time ago he lamented the fall of the Soviet Union which is especially hilarious as he was very likely involved in and vultured on the remains of it's demise.
> Russia was drastically unprepared for a long war
He, much like all of military officials in NATO at the time, assumed it was going to be over after they landed in Kiev.
I also contest that the economy has suffered: https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/russian-economy-shows-s...
The only exception is the pipeline, but then who could have expected that the US would sabotage an ally's ability to heat it's citizens? (assuming you ignore the last 100 years of american doctrine)