“We have a saying in America, we say that nations with allies are prospering, nations without allies are withering and we are watching Russia wither before our eyes right now,” Matisse said. Asked what military lessons could be learned from the war so far, the former US Marine said: “One thing is not to have incompetent generals in charge of your operations.” He also described Russia’s military performance as “pathetic” and denounced “the immoral, tactically incompetent, operationally foolish and strategically foolish effort” of its campaign in Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a news conference after meeting with his Indonesian counterpart in the Kremlin in Moscow on June 30. (Alexander Zemlianichenko / AFP / Getty Images) Matisse spoke of previous US efforts to bring Russia into the “community of nations,” but said that was not possible with Vladimir Putin as leader. “The tragedy of our time is that Putin is a creature directly from Dostoevsky. “He goes to bed every night angry, he goes to bed every night scared, he goes to bed every night thinking that Russia is surrounded by nightmares and that has guided him,” he said. Putin had removed anyone from his circle who would disagree with him, so “he probably thought the Ukrainian people would welcome him,” Matisse added.
title: " We See Russia Withering Before Our Eyes Says Former Us Secretary Of Defense " ShowToc: true date: “2022-11-25” author: “Louise Pinnock”
“We have a saying in America, we say that nations with allies are prospering, nations without allies are withering and we are watching Russia wither before our eyes right now,” Matisse said. Asked what military lessons could be learned from the war so far, the former US Marine said: “One thing is not to have incompetent generals in charge of your operations.” He also described Russia’s military performance as “pathetic” and denounced “the immoral, tactically incompetent, operationally foolish and strategically foolish effort” of its campaign in Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a news conference after meeting with his Indonesian counterpart in the Kremlin in Moscow on June 30. (Alexander Zemlianichenko / AFP / Getty Images) Matisse spoke of previous US efforts to bring Russia into the “community of nations,” but said that was not possible with Vladimir Putin as leader. “The tragedy of our time is that Putin is a creature straight out of Dostoyevsky. He goes to bed every night angry, he goes to bed every night scared, he goes to bed every night thinking that Russia is surrounded by nightmares and that has guided him,” he said. Putin had removed anyone from his circle who would disagree with him, so “he probably thought the Ukrainian people would welcome him,” Matisse added.
