The alteration of their personality can be profound. Mainly frontal lobe/prefrontal cortex injuries are the cause. Prognosis is typically not good. Aggression, substance abuse, explosive personality issues, propensity toward violence.
He’s got two options. Take the loans from China and join BRICS, or grab the billions from Washington and adopt the US dollar. The path is clear in his mind.
That’s why they’ve lost a large chunk of their brighter individuals. They saw and heard what was going on with Putin’s draft and had the financial means to get the fuck out of Russia. Only a lot of dumb asses remain.
Historically it’s how Russia has fought wars. Basic attrition. They’ll keep throwing troops and cheap, low tech weapons into the meat grinder until the other side runs out of troops. For a leader to lose a war in Russia means their demise. So yeah. Troops mean nothing to Putin
I imagine that the F16’s will be for close air support. They won’t be going nose to nose with any MiGs. Besides, Russia has already lost several of their so called 5th gen fighters. It’s questionable how many they actually have.
5-7 years just to replace the artillery they spent. The west got to try out a bunch of cool shit that the general public hasn’t a clue about. Ukraine was basically a proving ground for the development of more advanced military systems. Meanwhile the Russians were borrowing from North Korea and Iran. Old 1960’s technology. Let’s not forget the failed attack on Kiev. Putin tried to collapse the entire Ukrainian effort and failed miserably.
While I’m not saying this entire migrant crisis is America’s fault, but sanctions and various underhanded tricks by the CIA that destabilized countries has definitely contributed to the blowback.