I rarely write on the Russia – Putin – Ukraine situation so this article is a departure from the norm but bear with me as I believe that we are witnessing a purposely activated decline in Russian power knowingly coordinated by the EU, NATO, China and the Trump Administration. This is not some wild conspiracy theory but from boringly disciplined research from validated sources.

Russia invaded Ukraine on February 22, 2022, having been emboldened by their military occupations of Crimea and Donbas in 2014 and of the Abkhazia and South Ossetia regions of Georgia in 2008. All these expansionist victories undertaken with little military or political challenge. Harmless and somewhat irrelevant sanctions were imposed on Russia by the USA, Canada, and the EU immediately after Putin signed a decree recognizing Crimea as an independent state effectively annexing Crimea as part of Russia. Estimated casualty figures from UN sources suggest over 25,000 deaths directly related to these conflicts – no outrage, no protests, little media coverage then and certainly not now. No celebrity nor academia virtue signaling and currently totally ignored within the Theatre of the Absurd that is the United Nations.

On the mythological invented narrative that Ukraine was about to join NATO, Putin saw an opportunity to further expand his empire. He believed, understandably that Russia could easily achieve in Ukraine what it had previously achieved in Crimea, Donbas, and Georgia. Four years later his objectives have been utterly thwarted and at a huge cost, militarily, politically, economically, reputationally, and domestically.

There were immediate signs of the domestic unpopularity of........

© Blitz