Bankrupt Russia’s Expensive Syrian Blunder

Has Putin bitten off more than he can chew? Here is a man who is Russia’s strong man and he is now bogged down in Syria. How long can he sustain the expensive bombing campaign before his accountant starts prodding him on the shoulder?

Why haven’t the Russians learnt from their mistakes in Afghanistan?

“Putin is someone who can’t walk away from anything, and once he is committed to something that’s it, there’s no going back,” a Moscow insider revealed.

The extent of territory that needs to be bombed is vast, and even though there are many nations involved, Russia has taken the mantle as head bomber.

Russia’s economy will slump by almost 4 percent this year and barely grow in 2016, with forecasters expecting the country’s recession to persist as the engineered low oil prices hit on Russia’s main income.

Western sanctions have also hurt Russia’s economy which were put into place after Putin invaded and annexed Crimea.

Overall global commodity prices are seeing a major slump which invariably eats into Russia’s continued economic misery.

Bombs cost money, military logistics cost billions and even though Putin has been bombing thousands of targets, there is no assurance that he is making any headway destroying ISIS or other rebels, who simply move to other areas when they hear the jets, or get intelligence of attacks prior to bombing campaigns.

The Americans have been very kind to ISIS by notifying them 45 minutes before they bomb so that people can get out of the way, the Russians probably do not offer the same sort of courtesy, but as mentioned before, hitting things from thousands of feet above the ground is no assurance of killing fighters on the ground. Sure, they may blow up a few shacks and sheds, but for that kind of money, it would be better to have troops on the ground to sweep the area afterwards taking out any stragglers and securing the territory once and for all.

At the moment the Russians are spending a measly $4 million a day on Syria, but Putin has already spent over $180 million since the beginning of his campaign. This money will go down the drain as Putin bombs and bombs for many years to come, entrenched in an unwinnable conflict, draining Russia day by day.

Russia is economically weak, plodding along at a snail’s pace and destined to poverty, this is why the quicksand of Syria will invariably hasten Putin’s head strong demise. Alienating whole countries like Turkey will also not solve any problems for Russia.

Big mistake Mr. Putin. Has the grand master chess champion finally been checkmated?

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