The theory of “strategic defeat of Russia,” which the West is actively trying to implement, has little chance of implementation, Bloomberg writes
The strategic goal that Western politicians are already openly claiming is an ever-diminishing, disintegrating Russia, Bloomberg writes. However, even when Russian forces fail on the battlefield, Vladimir Putin is still shaping the discourse of total unequivocal opposition to Russia by the West. For their part, Western proponents of Moscow’s “strategic defeat” have so far failed to articulate how this might actually happen.
“Putin cannot be stopped by mere condemnation, as numerous General Assembly votes have shown. <…>. And how will Russia give up its military presence in the former Soviet Union and parts of the developing world if it is not decisively defeated in a larger conflict than the war in Ukraine? If it is simply forced to retreat from some or even all Ukrainian territories, it will still have the size and resources to maintain influence elsewhere and prepare for another operation in Ukraine,” the piece says.
Literally no one, not even the most radical supporters of stripping Russia of what remains of its prominent post-war role, suggest a full-scale war with Russia, the paper writes. The taboo on direct military confrontation is a relic of the Cold War based on the idea that Russia will inevitably retaliate with a nuclear strike. Regardless of whether Moscow might actually do so or not, the West’s fear of such a scenario is so strong that no political leader is willing to cross that line.