This could raise the chances for a breakthrough somewhere along the front, help to decisively shift domestic public opinion against the conflict, and thus make it easier for “deep state” forces to conspire against Zelensky.
I've always been amazed by the USA excellence for soft power.
Why is it the only country for which it works.
It succeeded in make us believe that USA was a democracy while the civic condition of Afro-American and Indian natives was an horror. First Afro admitted in an hospital: 1932 Chicago. First white man convicted of rape of a black lady: 1989(!!!!). First white man convicted of murder of the black man:1994(!!!).
In WW2, they arrived in Europe when USSR already did all the job of breaking Nazi war machine but no, for Europeans, it's USA that wan the war and saved us. They killed or made killed millions in South American, Africa, Asia, they destroyed countries but no, USA is a caring country.
They put Europe( and France) in the most abject submission, no, it's a caring allied.
Meanwhile, the Chinese arouse suspicion and hostility, the Russians arouse fear and aversion, the Germans have a knack for stirring up acrimony, and both the French and the English arouse hatred or contempt.
Why USA succeed in pretending to be the good old buddy?
Russia( even more China) is really weak in soft power.
Why? And precisely where?
Western Europeans are bad at this because of a stupid superiority complex. On the other hand, Russia (and even more so China) are bad at this game because of an inferiority complex.
and like all big strong guys who suffer from an inferiority complex, they will never admit it.
Russia's soft power problems nowadays are also largely attributable, in my opinion, to its policy of "Potemkinism", which refers to the calculated creation of artificial realities for strategic purposes, such as tacitly encouraging top Alt-Media influencers to propagate the lie that Putin is secretly anti-Zionist and allied with Iran against Israel.
I shared two examples of this policy in practice below and maintain that cultivating unrealistic and false expectations of Russia inevitably leads to deep disappointment that in turn raises the chances of hitherto misguided supporters "defecting" from its cause. I'm totally against it and despise those of my so-called "peers" who go along with this charade:
"... such as not tacitly encouraging top Alt-Media influencers to propagate the lie that Putin is secretly anti-Zionist and allied with Iran against Israel."
With all respect, but something seems to be wrong with this sentence. I think the "not" should be deleted.
I share exactly the same feeling, and the same anger and contempt for them.
About Russians, I've met some those 35 last years. In very different places, and circumstances, people of different ages and education level. These people were very différents but they all had a common point:
a rather cold and haughty at first glance and the mania of wanting to appear more and better.
You say "I have that", they say " hi I have better". You say " I think that", they say " I know better than you". You say " watch out of that" they say " I don't fear nothing", you try to speak or sing in Russian, they look at you as if you messed with them. After that, they all were really good fellows but this boastful child side is really annoying. And it was typical of all the Russians men I met. Russian ladies were of two kinds, either marvelous princesses, perfection made woman, or horrible foul-mouthed shrews.
It's just my experience. I don't pretend it's a rule.
But generally, US people is(was?) often very friendly in first shot. Not obsequious and dripping like some other "nice" peoples on earth, no, juste nice.
And I think it's their most important asset in soft power.
If I may ask, did you have these experiences with Russians outside of Russia or inside the country? I'm only wondering because my experiences with them these last 12 years living in Moscow are very different.
This is not directly related, but there's a Russian guy who was a propaganda specialist during the USSR and who posts on Quora about the techniques they used, and in general how to understand propaganda. He was assigned to a Soviet bureau in Norway and produced media for Norwegians, and stayed in that country after the fall of the USSR. You might find him interesting.
Dima occasionally analyzes groups you mention like alt-media influencers, and internal Russian politics. He has an interesting take imo - through the lens of a propagandist, while not expressing a value judgment if the message being propagandized is good or bad.
The Dima that I suggested to read on Quora is a different person from the Dima of Military Summary.
Why do you think Dima of Military Summary is a "fraud"? His maps are generally more conservative than either the pro-Ukraine or pro-Russia military analysts. Have you found specific instances he promoted false information?
I think you seriously underestimate the monetization of Military Summary's channel. He clearly has a decent sized staff working with him. Between the English, Russian, German, Polish, and Hindi channels, his daily viewership is approaching half a million views. He probably makes what you suggested for a month in a single day.
Your "Listen any video published 6, 12, 18, 24, 30 months ago and notice what really happened" covers hundreds of videos that Dima published, so I don't really have any means to see for myself if what you're saying is true.
"First Afro admitted in an hospital: 1932 Chicago. First white man convicted of rape of a black lady: 1989(!!!!). First white man convicted of murder of the black man:1994(!!!). "
These are so wrong and so laughable that I question whether it's worthwhile to even engage in conversation with someone like you.
I don't know where you get your facts from but the quality of your sources is absolutely horrible.
I think nothing will shift in the Ukrainian war as long as elements in US Intel want it to continue. Those who are in power in the intel agencies have more power than any President, and President Trump cannot take control from them or even admit publicly that he is not in control of them.
The American people want the war to end. The Ukrainian people want the war to end. Most likely the Russian people want the war to end. But those psychopaths who currently have power over all of us are insisting on a daily death count that is horrifying to behold. I wish the world's people could unite and destroy those in control who are determined to either kill us all or enslave any of us who find a way to survive.
Thank you I just looked them up. I actually hope these guarantees get instituted as they are a framework for peace, and nothing from the West that I know of is even close to them as a guarantee of peace.
I am an American who thought NATO should be disbanded because Russia as a country is not a threat to Europe nor to the US. But I then found out that the CCP has goals of surpassing the US (It already has in some ways) as the world power and is going by three measures, one of which is the end of NATO. Once NATO is disbanded and the CCP has reached its two other goals, China will have finally surpassed the US as a world power.
Because I don't admire the CCP way of life, such as people working for $1 a day, total 24/7 surveillance, etc, I thought at least NATO should be reformed, and the affiliated NGOs taken apart. The Russian ultimatum would be a good way to achieve those goals.
I don't fear China too much. After one century of western humiliations, this people have a good stock of anger and revenge.
However.
History shows that China never been hegemonic. On century before Christobal Colomb , they sent a huge flotte of hundred boats and 30000 sailors discover Indian and western Pacific oceans. Then they came back home and began to trade and put bank stations everywhere. No soldiers, no occupation, no war, no cinetic domination.
You must not reflect the european-american faults on other people.
Well, maybe you are right that it is a projection. I think that is very possible. We in America are brought up with these ideas from the time we are small, and until recently I never fully understood where the propaganda was actually coming from. I think the whole COVID disaster was such an awakening for me in so many areas: in medicine (I'm a retired MD) I found how much I and all doctors are indoctrinated instead of taught to be skeptical and do our own research into what we are taught; I became really skeptical of the entire intel system that is in control of our government and country, I became skeptical about our foreign relations, and learned about the massive amount of crimes committed by the CIA kept secret from Americans, so I have to say, it would not surprise me if I parrot some of what I have been taught without questioning it even now, when I question so much.
It's not that I have not been exposed to communism, since my parents were both in the Communist party and my uncle carried Mao's little red book with him....aunts and uncles also communists....but I started to separate my political thinking from them around 2006 and became politically conservative - the only one in my family.
The important thing is to remain open to others' criticism and try to learn from it. So thanks for your comment.
But don't worry, in France, the most restless and relentless maoïsts or trotskysts of the 70's became the most restless and relentless néocons and oligarchs servants. :)
Yes you can be members of the Communist party or various Communist parties and be an American citizen. However, to become a naturalized American citizen you cannot be a Communist. This is an issue arising in the controversial candidacy of Zohran Mamdani currently running for mayor of NYC.
My parents were each the youngest in their families and their older sibling or siblings were already in the Communist party. When they became teenagers they both joined a youth group, American Youth for Democracy, which was a Communist youth group. They went on to organize trade unions in the northeast of the US, and this, while the McCarthy era was taking place in American politics, so it wasn't exactly an easy thing to be a Communist back in the 1950's. They both worked in factories until various facts were revealed about Stalin. After which my father finished college and went to medical school and became an MD. Both my parents are still politically Communist but not party members. Whereas there are democrat politicians who are or have been members of the Democratic Socialist party, which is a Communist political party. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, for example is one and so is Zohran Mamdani referenced above.
I am no longer as politically "progressive" as my family members but I am not a neocon or oligarch. I'm just politically conservative based on conservative policies that work to improve a country's economy so it thrives, so there are good jobs available, and so there are opportunities for all to thrive through hard work. I've studied progressive policies and they have actually led to economic stagnation if not disaster as well as having a dismantling and destabilizing effect on our culture, our view of history, and religion.
Here in the US it is clear that the democrat politicians are actually supporting the policies of the oligarchs and globalists. There are plenty of republicans-in-name-only who support the globalists too, but there is an effort to elect conservatives who will choose policies that undermine the stranglehold of the globalists on our country.
The Israelis are the masters of soft power. They have been using the holocaust as the reason to do anything they desire and it harkens back to what happened almost a hundred years ago. The US has a republic where In the early 1900’s people from all around the world fled for the promise of a better life. They fled Russia, and other authoritarian countries because it would afford them the one thing that could never be guaranteed in any other country in the world. Personal freedom. You can say what you want to piss on the US but if you don’t have to live with the thought somebody might come break your door down or take what you’ve worked for it will go a long way to build a narrative that it’s better than any other country on earth.
Whether or not this strategy will decisively shift things remains to be seen, but the interplay between military actions and internal Ukrainian dynamics is definitely shaping the conflict’s trajectory.
Do you still stand by your "new detente" theory as Trump prepares to authorise additional arms for Ukraine next week? Putin was right last year, the deep state would prevent any real change in US policy re: Russia no matter who was President.
Absolutely since it was an explanation of their mutual intentions at that point in time, not a theory, and was backed up by facts such as their representatives declaring an interest in closer resource cooperation.
Intentions, policies, and events can change, though, but what separates me from most of my so-called "peers" (the vast majority of whom lack my academic and professional credentials) is that I'll always recalibrate my explanations, etc. in light of those changes.
Accordingly, I'm more pessimistic than before that they'll clinch any resource-centric economic deals, let alone become strategic partners. The potential is there, neither side has declared any changes in this regard, but the latest events makes it less likely.
To elaborate more on my tangential criticism of others in the Alt-Media Community (AMC), their egos usually prevent them from ever changing their assessments. Instead, they tend to double down on them, concocting all sorts of kooky conspiracy theories to uphold whatever it is that they initially said, thus leading to them becoming divorced from reality by more and more degrees.
The most common lies that they spew to this day are usually centered on the totally false claim that Putin is secretly anti-Zionist and allied with Iran against Israel. Other lies concern him "psyching out the Zionists and the West" through various means as well as him supposedly preparing to "liberate Constantinople". Anytime anyone comes across these claims, they should immediately stop trusting the person spreading them.
Do you remember how all, absolutely all those jesters, in last September , said that resistance axis were invincible, that Hezbollah could destroy Israël, that Syria was steadily in Russian hands, that attacking Iran would be a disaster with all assault jet destroyed by the fantastic Iranian AD and the help of Russia.
All in their dreams, none of them, none saw the dramatical shift with the death of former Iranian president ( return from .. Azerbaijan...) and the arrival of Pezeskian. They saw nothing with the murder of Hamas head in Teheran, nothing when Iran didn't say a word when Hezbollah were destroyed and still nothing when Iranian troops gave all its Syrian positions to Takfiris without any fight.
They do something huge: they don't obey and don't join west to condamn Russia, they don't sanction Russia, they trade with Russia and even in winning there a lot of money they allow Russia to win a lot of money too.
One have to be realistic.
Imagine China, India, Brazil, Arabs condemning Russia, like US or France, refusing to trade with it.
Soft power.
I've always been amazed by the USA excellence for soft power.
Why is it the only country for which it works.
It succeeded in make us believe that USA was a democracy while the civic condition of Afro-American and Indian natives was an horror. First Afro admitted in an hospital: 1932 Chicago. First white man convicted of rape of a black lady: 1989(!!!!). First white man convicted of murder of the black man:1994(!!!).
In WW2, they arrived in Europe when USSR already did all the job of breaking Nazi war machine but no, for Europeans, it's USA that wan the war and saved us. They killed or made killed millions in South American, Africa, Asia, they destroyed countries but no, USA is a caring country.
They put Europe( and France) in the most abject submission, no, it's a caring allied.
Meanwhile, the Chinese arouse suspicion and hostility, the Russians arouse fear and aversion, the Germans have a knack for stirring up acrimony, and both the French and the English arouse hatred or contempt.
Why USA succeed in pretending to be the good old buddy?
Russia( even more China) is really weak in soft power.
Why? And precisely where?
Western Europeans are bad at this because of a stupid superiority complex. On the other hand, Russia (and even more so China) are bad at this game because of an inferiority complex.
and like all big strong guys who suffer from an inferiority complex, they will never admit it.
Russia's soft power problems nowadays are also largely attributable, in my opinion, to its policy of "Potemkinism", which refers to the calculated creation of artificial realities for strategic purposes, such as tacitly encouraging top Alt-Media influencers to propagate the lie that Putin is secretly anti-Zionist and allied with Iran against Israel.
I shared two examples of this policy in practice below and maintain that cultivating unrealistic and false expectations of Russia inevitably leads to deep disappointment that in turn raises the chances of hitherto misguided supporters "defecting" from its cause. I'm totally against it and despise those of my so-called "peers" who go along with this charade:
https://korybko.substack.com/p/putin-shared-some-important-insight
https://korybko.substack.com/p/claims-about-russias-unreliability
"... such as not tacitly encouraging top Alt-Media influencers to propagate the lie that Putin is secretly anti-Zionist and allied with Iran against Israel."
With all respect, but something seems to be wrong with this sentence. I think the "not" should be deleted.
???
Thanks for catching that typo!
I share exactly the same feeling, and the same anger and contempt for them.
About Russians, I've met some those 35 last years. In very different places, and circumstances, people of different ages and education level. These people were very différents but they all had a common point:
a rather cold and haughty at first glance and the mania of wanting to appear more and better.
You say "I have that", they say " hi I have better". You say " I think that", they say " I know better than you". You say " watch out of that" they say " I don't fear nothing", you try to speak or sing in Russian, they look at you as if you messed with them. After that, they all were really good fellows but this boastful child side is really annoying. And it was typical of all the Russians men I met. Russian ladies were of two kinds, either marvelous princesses, perfection made woman, or horrible foul-mouthed shrews.
It's just my experience. I don't pretend it's a rule.
But generally, US people is(was?) often very friendly in first shot. Not obsequious and dripping like some other "nice" peoples on earth, no, juste nice.
And I think it's their most important asset in soft power.
If I may ask, did you have these experiences with Russians outside of Russia or inside the country? I'm only wondering because my experiences with them these last 12 years living in Moscow are very different.
Outside. France, Caribbean, Canada, North Africa, Spain or England. I've never been in Russia. I'd like to.
And I understand what you mean. Some people can be very different outside or inside their land.
It could be interesting to ask this question to eastern Europeans, Caucasus or central Asia people.
That could explain a lot.
This is not directly related, but there's a Russian guy who was a propaganda specialist during the USSR and who posts on Quora about the techniques they used, and in general how to understand propaganda. He was assigned to a Soviet bureau in Norway and produced media for Norwegians, and stayed in that country after the fall of the USSR. You might find him interesting.
https://www.quora.com/profile/Dima-Vorobiev
Dima occasionally analyzes groups you mention like alt-media influencers, and internal Russian politics. He has an interesting take imo - through the lens of a propagandist, while not expressing a value judgment if the message being propagandized is good or bad.
Dima? Military Summary Channel?
😂😂😂😭
If its him, it's one of the worst fraud of this war.
Incredible. Three years to throw bullshit twice a day. Always wrong, but there is still 100 000(!!!) morons to watch religiously this shit.
But for him, sure, good lemonade: 200000 watcher a day, 6000$ a month mini.Not to bad.
But we have to be sure it's the same Dima. I speak about the man of Military Summary Channel on YT.
The Dima that I suggested to read on Quora is a different person from the Dima of Military Summary.
Why do you think Dima of Military Summary is a "fraud"? His maps are generally more conservative than either the pro-Ukraine or pro-Russia military analysts. Have you found specific instances he promoted false information?
I think you seriously underestimate the monetization of Military Summary's channel. He clearly has a decent sized staff working with him. Between the English, Russian, German, Polish, and Hindi channels, his daily viewership is approaching half a million views. He probably makes what you suggested for a month in a single day.
Why I think Military Summary Channel is a joke?
Very simple.
Make a test yourself.
Listen any video published 6, 12, 18, 24, 30 months ago and notice what really happened.
Pathetic.
As I still have a little more memory than a redfish, this kind of joke don't work for me.
You know why I read Andreï for years now?
It's not because it would nice, handsome or charismatic. I don't care.
No, I read Andreï every day because 9. time on 10, facts which follow say he was right.
That's all.
Your "Listen any video published 6, 12, 18, 24, 30 months ago and notice what really happened" covers hundreds of videos that Dima published, so I don't really have any means to see for myself if what you're saying is true.
"First Afro admitted in an hospital: 1932 Chicago. First white man convicted of rape of a black lady: 1989(!!!!). First white man convicted of murder of the black man:1994(!!!). "
These are so wrong and so laughable that I question whether it's worthwhile to even engage in conversation with someone like you.
I don't know where you get your facts from but the quality of your sources is absolutely horrible.
Thanks for this article!
I think nothing will shift in the Ukrainian war as long as elements in US Intel want it to continue. Those who are in power in the intel agencies have more power than any President, and President Trump cannot take control from them or even admit publicly that he is not in control of them.
The American people want the war to end. The Ukrainian people want the war to end. Most likely the Russian people want the war to end. But those psychopaths who currently have power over all of us are insisting on a daily death count that is horrifying to behold. I wish the world's people could unite and destroy those in control who are determined to either kill us all or enslave any of us who find a way to survive.
If I can allow me, this war will long untill the russian ultimatum terms of November 2021 will be completed.
Or either Russia or NATO collapse.
Thank you I just looked them up. I actually hope these guarantees get instituted as they are a framework for peace, and nothing from the West that I know of is even close to them as a guarantee of peace.
I am an American who thought NATO should be disbanded because Russia as a country is not a threat to Europe nor to the US. But I then found out that the CCP has goals of surpassing the US (It already has in some ways) as the world power and is going by three measures, one of which is the end of NATO. Once NATO is disbanded and the CCP has reached its two other goals, China will have finally surpassed the US as a world power.
Because I don't admire the CCP way of life, such as people working for $1 a day, total 24/7 surveillance, etc, I thought at least NATO should be reformed, and the affiliated NGOs taken apart. The Russian ultimatum would be a good way to achieve those goals.
I don't fear China too much. After one century of western humiliations, this people have a good stock of anger and revenge.
However.
History shows that China never been hegemonic. On century before Christobal Colomb , they sent a huge flotte of hundred boats and 30000 sailors discover Indian and western Pacific oceans. Then they came back home and began to trade and put bank stations everywhere. No soldiers, no occupation, no war, no cinetic domination.
You must not reflect the european-american faults on other people.
Well, maybe you are right that it is a projection. I think that is very possible. We in America are brought up with these ideas from the time we are small, and until recently I never fully understood where the propaganda was actually coming from. I think the whole COVID disaster was such an awakening for me in so many areas: in medicine (I'm a retired MD) I found how much I and all doctors are indoctrinated instead of taught to be skeptical and do our own research into what we are taught; I became really skeptical of the entire intel system that is in control of our government and country, I became skeptical about our foreign relations, and learned about the massive amount of crimes committed by the CIA kept secret from Americans, so I have to say, it would not surprise me if I parrot some of what I have been taught without questioning it even now, when I question so much.
It's not that I have not been exposed to communism, since my parents were both in the Communist party and my uncle carried Mao's little red book with him....aunts and uncles also communists....but I started to separate my political thinking from them around 2006 and became politically conservative - the only one in my family.
The important thing is to remain open to others' criticism and try to learn from it. So thanks for your comment.
Yes. Nobody has the truth. We are reduced to suppose. But what is well is the honest and wise objections to what we can think
It's my only reason to comment. Search after someone who will say" perhaps, but you have to considerate that....".
And Andreï is like that. Honest, clever, informed.
Friendly.
Communist AND US citizen. ..
I didn't know that could exist. :)
Could you tell me more?
But don't worry, in France, the most restless and relentless maoïsts or trotskysts of the 70's became the most restless and relentless néocons and oligarchs servants. :)
Yes you can be members of the Communist party or various Communist parties and be an American citizen. However, to become a naturalized American citizen you cannot be a Communist. This is an issue arising in the controversial candidacy of Zohran Mamdani currently running for mayor of NYC.
My parents were each the youngest in their families and their older sibling or siblings were already in the Communist party. When they became teenagers they both joined a youth group, American Youth for Democracy, which was a Communist youth group. They went on to organize trade unions in the northeast of the US, and this, while the McCarthy era was taking place in American politics, so it wasn't exactly an easy thing to be a Communist back in the 1950's. They both worked in factories until various facts were revealed about Stalin. After which my father finished college and went to medical school and became an MD. Both my parents are still politically Communist but not party members. Whereas there are democrat politicians who are or have been members of the Democratic Socialist party, which is a Communist political party. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, for example is one and so is Zohran Mamdani referenced above.
I am no longer as politically "progressive" as my family members but I am not a neocon or oligarch. I'm just politically conservative based on conservative policies that work to improve a country's economy so it thrives, so there are good jobs available, and so there are opportunities for all to thrive through hard work. I've studied progressive policies and they have actually led to economic stagnation if not disaster as well as having a dismantling and destabilizing effect on our culture, our view of history, and religion.
Here in the US it is clear that the democrat politicians are actually supporting the policies of the oligarchs and globalists. There are plenty of republicans-in-name-only who support the globalists too, but there is an effort to elect conservatives who will choose policies that undermine the stranglehold of the globalists on our country.
Nobody cares what the American or Ukrainian people want.
Should have been done long ago.
It's remarkable what drones and rocket strikes are capable of when you actually use them for a tangible goal.
The Israelis are the masters of soft power. They have been using the holocaust as the reason to do anything they desire and it harkens back to what happened almost a hundred years ago. The US has a republic where In the early 1900’s people from all around the world fled for the promise of a better life. They fled Russia, and other authoritarian countries because it would afford them the one thing that could never be guaranteed in any other country in the world. Personal freedom. You can say what you want to piss on the US but if you don’t have to live with the thought somebody might come break your door down or take what you’ve worked for it will go a long way to build a narrative that it’s better than any other country on earth.
Whether or not this strategy will decisively shift things remains to be seen, but the interplay between military actions and internal Ukrainian dynamics is definitely shaping the conflict’s trajectory.
Do you still stand by your "new detente" theory as Trump prepares to authorise additional arms for Ukraine next week? Putin was right last year, the deep state would prevent any real change in US policy re: Russia no matter who was President.
Absolutely since it was an explanation of their mutual intentions at that point in time, not a theory, and was backed up by facts such as their representatives declaring an interest in closer resource cooperation.
Intentions, policies, and events can change, though, but what separates me from most of my so-called "peers" (the vast majority of whom lack my academic and professional credentials) is that I'll always recalibrate my explanations, etc. in light of those changes.
Accordingly, I'm more pessimistic than before that they'll clinch any resource-centric economic deals, let alone become strategic partners. The potential is there, neither side has declared any changes in this regard, but the latest events makes it less likely.
To elaborate more on my tangential criticism of others in the Alt-Media Community (AMC), their egos usually prevent them from ever changing their assessments. Instead, they tend to double down on them, concocting all sorts of kooky conspiracy theories to uphold whatever it is that they initially said, thus leading to them becoming divorced from reality by more and more degrees.
The most common lies that they spew to this day are usually centered on the totally false claim that Putin is secretly anti-Zionist and allied with Iran against Israel. Other lies concern him "psyching out the Zionists and the West" through various means as well as him supposedly preparing to "liberate Constantinople". Anytime anyone comes across these claims, they should immediately stop trusting the person spreading them.
Do you remember how all, absolutely all those jesters, in last September , said that resistance axis were invincible, that Hezbollah could destroy Israël, that Syria was steadily in Russian hands, that attacking Iran would be a disaster with all assault jet destroyed by the fantastic Iranian AD and the help of Russia.
All in their dreams, none of them, none saw the dramatical shift with the death of former Iranian president ( return from .. Azerbaijan...) and the arrival of Pezeskian. They saw nothing with the murder of Hamas head in Teheran, nothing when Iran didn't say a word when Hezbollah were destroyed and still nothing when Iranian troops gave all its Syrian positions to Takfiris without any fight.
Loathsome.
They have another way to save their ego when they mistake: they "forget" or they look somewhere else.
The problem is that Russia has been dithering since the beginning of this war and continues to dither.
It's probably because it can't do differently.
Probably its hands are a little bound by friendly countries like China or India which probably would be much less compliant if Russia stoke harder.
Perhaps ending Ukrain war without solving security European architecture don't interest Russia
A lot of reasons.
But I think that Poutine or Lavrov are far more clever and well I formed than me.
And I don't have the fate of a nation and the world in my hands.
"Friendly countries" aren't doing much for Russia, and they are guided by self-interest, not humanitarian concerns.
Otherwise, you present an argument from ignorance.
They do something huge: they don't obey and don't join west to condamn Russia, they don't sanction Russia, they trade with Russia and even in winning there a lot of money they allow Russia to win a lot of money too.
One have to be realistic.
Imagine China, India, Brazil, Arabs condemning Russia, like US or France, refusing to trade with it.
Since they comply with western secondary sanctions, yeah, they obey.
Sure...but they don't.
They keep on buying huge quantities of oil and gaz and weapons and all kind of product.
And they sell huge quantities of products of all kind.
It seems your argument is irrelevant.