JRL NEWSWATCH: “Russia learns a hard lesson about the folly of war; Great powers usually come off worse when they invade smaller countries” – Financial Times

“… Moscow’s military is bogged down and has taken heavy losses. Russia’s international isolation is getting worse … Finland and Sweden are planning to join Nato. … [E]ven a war against a smaller, weaker neighbour can go badly wrong. Larger conflicts invite disaster. Even nominal victory can leave your economy and society in a ruinous condition. … [H]istorian AJP Taylor … concluded: ‘Though the object of being a Great Power is to be able to fight a Great War, the only way of remaining a Great Power is not to fight one.’ …  Putin presided over a decade-long military build-up … then launched a war to reassert Russia’s status as a great power. … Russia is likely to emerge … poorer, weaker and greatly diminished. Putin’s war is not just a crime. It is also a mistake.”

Click here for: “Russia learns a hard lesson about the folly of war; Great powers usually come off worse when they invade smaller countries” – Financial Times/  Gideon Rachman