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Russia wants to be perceived as a big power, but Ukraine is destroying any notion of that. Fantastic!
It seems that Russia has not really thought this invasion through. They must have been planning on Ukrainians to just give up. Becuase it seems they are not preparred for a lot of these asymmetric attacks agaisnt opponet who can easily blend in within your domestic population.
How is Russia planning on rebuilding its military might wnen they blew their natiot wealth fund already and economy is now to manufacture weapons which then literally get used and nothing to show for it.
Old men ruling countries is a national security issue at this point. These people’s egos are driving a lot of these idiotic decisions. Trumps behavior is another prime example of this.
How is Russia planning on rebuilding its military might
China & North Korea.
Russia just got handed a bunch of war material by NK, probably acting as a proxy for China. China will prop them up to put pressure on the EU, while also gaining more internal control over Russia.
Old men ruling countries is a national security issue at this point
insert alwayshasbeen.jpg here
If Russia going to rely on Chinese supply, then they essentially traded their geopolitical independence for geopolitical herpes, ie a failed war against a neighbor that pissed off most of the world.
Not to mention the fact that having China that close as an “ally” allows them to look extra close at how weak Russia is getting. Then they can decide when the right time to annex a large chunk of land will be easiest.
I doubt China will make a direct military move against Russia ever. That’s not how they invade their neighbors.
Instead what they like to do is arrange some kind of development contract, usually mining or something similar, where they take over a large piece of land and then basically have free reign to bring in whatever equipment and personnel they want and extract resources with little oversight, few if any environmental regulations, and no labor laws. They will either import their own workers who will basically be treated like slaves, or hire local workers if they’re cheap and treat them the same. Also it’s pretty easy to import some surveillance equipment and a few PRC enforcers amidst all the industrial gear and specialist personnel.
For example:
- https://www.mining-technology.com/features/arrests-and-attacks-tracking-chinas-illegal-mining-in-african-countries/
- https://www.spglobal.com/en/research-insights/special-reports/china-s-global-reach-grows-behind-critical-minerals
- https://thediplomat.com/2024/03/canadian-miners-needs-capital-but-only-china-is-stepping-up/
Internally, China is starting to enforce stricter environmental protections:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2214790X23000096
Because of things like the damage that’s been done to the Yangtze River and Poyang Lake:
https://www.asiafinancial.com/china-bans-sand-mining-on-yangtze-river
So basically they’re exporting environmental damage to other countries:
https://coastalcare.org/2018/10/chinas-search-for-sand-is-destroying-mozambiques-pristine-beaches/
(which is not really different from what western nations have been doing since the industrial revolution, it’s just that in the present we know a lot more about the long-term impacts of the damage and the climate crisis is a lot more immediate, plus modern technology accelerates and amplifies the damage, and China is very aggressive in this area)
Russia is experiencing a labor shortage and will continue to for a long time after this war. I expect we will start to see deals with China to do resource extraction inside Russia, and once they’re in it’s very difficult to get them out.
tl;dr: military operations are expensive in terms of finance, politics, and international influence, but resource extraction deals are lucrative and develop soft power
