For Russia, their troops are not in the open but masked and hooded figures that move in the night and day to seize property and lands unopposed. They are unopposed because Washington and Brussels have counseled a passive response and even a saccharine surrender in Kiev so as not to anger the Russian Bear. Like a dog that barks behind the fence, the West only appears tough and has decided that whatever actions are taken in Kiev will be one that does not involve combat of any sort against a clear and present Russian invasion of an independent state in Europe. We should not be surprised by these developments as the soft and leftwing leadership in the West has clearly backed down against a greater foe in the North. To the victor go the spoils.
Ukraine's only hope is to go it alone and with its own initiative, seize the moment and attack the Russians using it's own infantry. Will this invite calamity in a conventional counterattack by the Russians with actual troops, tanks and planes? Perhaps. It no doubt will be a long and bloody brawl. But then Moscow's complete and utter disregard for living in a Christian dominion abiding by Christian rules and etiquette will now be laid bare as the farce it always was. In the past twenty years, Russia has allowed the Eastern Orthodox Church to rise once more but not as a way to win converts to Christ but as a mechanism and tool for the Russian state to exploit the weakness of Russian arms which was the Russian spirit to fight and to win.
Under Communism, it was well known in all military circles around the world, that Russia was the military weakling, despite its numbers, because communists destroyed all initiative and creative know-how so critical in a modern military system. The officers were mere subjects of the commissar who worked directly with the Communist Party to ensure discipline and love of "the leader" and his party. The communist purge of the army during the 1930's by Stalin showed the way for other soviet and soviet-like states around the world how to ensure communist loyalty in their armed forces. The communist armies of the world were reduced to mere tin soldiers with no hope of freedom to respond in a combat environment so critical to success. Unfortunately, World War II was the Soviets greatest triumph in that it gave the Red Army an ersatz invincibility that only recently has been recognized as completely unwarranted. However, after World War II, the Middle East Wars between Russia's client states in the form of Egypt, Syria, Jordan and Iraq against the Western supported Israel between 1948 and 1982 exposed this rather large Achilles' heal of the Soviet system of governance. Then, the Russians invaded Afghanistan in support of another client state in 1979 which continued to further erode this image of the mighty Red Army even more.
Glasnost under Gorbachev in 1989 was the Russian attempt to change that calculus. We are seeing today the fruits of their recalibration with Russian infantry covering as "separatists" in Eastern Ukraine and taking everything they desire unopposed amid the chaos of indecision that has now gripped the pro-western Ukrainian state. However, it's not really Kiev's fault. They want to be part of the West and they want Western military support. It's unfortunate that Barack Obama is at the helm in the White House, we could only imagine what the response would be if Reagan were in charge. Of course, I doubt the Russians would have sent in their troops to sow discord if he were still around. Nevertheless, the Russian "invasion" of Ukraine by masked marauders is paying off huge for the Red Army. They have seized the initiative and have shown results that Moscow can be proud of.
It all comes down to who moves first. And the Russians, under their new "model army" with the support of the nascent Eastern Orthodox Church which only recently was just a mere shell of its former self under the Communists, can now claim success in Europe. The fusion of religious orthodoxy and military might is a lethal combination. Interesting, that the West is breaking down it's Christian backbone in it's military with a revived paganism which will directly affect military operations against the Russians or their client states including other areas of the world. Obama is the Pagan leader of the West and will not defend Ukraine against a more rapacious and newly inspired Eastern Orthodox Russian army that wants to liberate the old Slavic Rus capital from greedy pagan Westerns, as they see it.
Unfortunately, the Russians may be more right than we care to admit. Sic Transit Gloria Mundi.
