Russia has so many weaknesses one cannot but wonder why NATO remains utterly supine, incapable of mustering the political will to end a conflict on Europe's very doorstep. Weaknesses, however, are not indicative of the determination of Putin to throw every last Russian into the fight in order to preserve his position at the top of his enormous kleptocracy. Germany in WWI had an even worse economic and logistical position yet sustained combat operations for four years. Putin merely needs to hold out through 2024, which will be relatively easy as the US Republican Party is choking off the already-milquetoast US support for Ukraine and European NATO members have exhausted their far-too-slender stockpiles. So in the end, though it breaks my heart to say it, Putin will almost certainly end up ruling Ukraine via a proxy regime as per the situation in Belarus. It is depressing how spineless and stupid we are in the West.