Dumb and dumber: Trump and Putin are both losing wars to smaller enemies

July 28, 2026 — 5:00am

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Russia and America, the superpowers of last century, are led by men pledging to restore past greatness.

Vladimir Putin has said that “the collapse of the Soviet Union was the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the century”. He’s setting out to restore “Great Russia” by invading Ukraine. He claims it is part of Russia’s “spiritual space”.

Donald Trump said he would overcome “American carnage” and “make America great again”. Attacking Iran would help because “when it’s all over, the US will be safer, stronger, more prosperous and greater than it has ever been before”. American rule would even “make Iran great again”.

That’s the marketing. What’s the reality?

Dumb use of power has produced dumb results. Both Russia and the US stand humiliated by much smaller nations. A couple of months ago, I likened their ill-conceived use of power to the proverbial dumb bag of hammers – “no amount of power can succeed if badly employed”.

But it now emerges that even their supply of hammers is in doubt. Russia’s supply of troops is under severe strain and the US is running out of armaments, we learnt on the weekend.

Putin and Trump are not dumb men. But their hubris has led them to do dumb things. It was hubristic of Putin and Trump to launch their wars. It is extraordinary incompetence that they are struggling to organise even the most basic elements of armed combat.

Russia has asked North Korea for another 30,000 troops, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. “Preparations have been under way in........

© The Sydney Morning Herald