<nettime> Russia lost the war already

[Andreas Broeckmann <ab@mikro.in-berlin.de>]

Russia's war against Ukraine was lost from day one. The people in Russia 
must now decide how they want to get out of the mess their leadership 
created.
Russia can never win this war. It will not be able to suppress the 
resistance of the Ukrainian people who, even if Russian troops were to 
occupy major parts of the territory, would continue to offer both 
civilian and armed resistance to this occupation. This resistance would 
not end.
Even if Russia were to capture President Selensky and remove him from 
office, there would be others who would take Selensky's place, Ukrainian 
brothers and sisters, cousins, uncles, aunts, and comrades. The sequence 
of brave selenskys who will lead the democratically legitimised 
Ukrainian resistance against Russia will not end.
And even if Russia were to occupy Ukrainian cities and depose the 
government, the economic sanctions of the international community would 
stay in place and would, sooner rather than later, ruin Putin's economic 
and social power base in Russia. This erosion will not end.
The ongoing attacks, the killing and military violence that the Russian 
military is inflicting on the Ukrainian people and its cities and lands, 
are heartbreaking. They are heartbreaking because of the current loss of 
lives, the hardship and destruction. But they are also so heartbreaking 
because they are so utterly futile. They are a form of murder and 
destruction whose result can only be the defeat and humiliation of the 
Russian perpetrators.
The most pressing question is therefore whether Russian soldiers and 
military leaders, all those who participate in Putin's campaign, or 
support it, or have done nothing to stop it, whether these people want 
to continue their role in this senseless campaign, at the end of which 
they will without doubt stand as the parias of the world, as the Cain 
who killed his Ukranian siblings. That part of the story will also not 
end, if the war is not ended very soon.
Andreas Broeckmann
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