The author is too young and insufficiently well versed in historical data to realize that our endless stories about sanctions wrecking the Russian economy and horrific Russian battlefield losses supposedly "guaranteeing" eventual Western victory are precisely the same stories we were fed during the VietNam conflict. Back then, North VietNam wasn't merely suffering from sanctions: US bombers were destroying NV infrastructure. And yet... in 1973 the USA ignominiously withdrew and the VietCong took over control of the entire country. Isn't it funny how when we focus on the wrong things we draw the wrong conclusions?