They need to frame this in the context of the propaganda they've been feeding people for the past two years about Russia being decimated on the battlefield. Otherwise, they just have to straight up come out and say they were lying this whole time.

asiatic hordes, etc,etc

no, they mean they did everything they could to destroy the country and its people and turn it into a gas station colony and would you look it, they're back after a few decades of krokodil.

of course, the russia that's back is a twisted shadow of its former self

Juche NecroOrkromancy

By foul craft, Putin has crossed Orc with Goblin Men. He is breeding an army in the caverns of Kremlin. An army that can move in sunlight and cover great distance at speed.

Libs called Russians Orks for a while.

The only western source that has any methodology shows around 53k https://en.zona.media/article/2022/05/20/casualties_eng

To be fair, it's a proxy war between NATO and Russia, and a lot of people did think that NATO was stronger militarily and economically because they didn't understand the difference between financial and industrial economy.

No, no, you see it's totally realistic to expect a highly industrialized country with vast domestic natural resources and a land border with a friendly manufacturing powerhouse and 20+ years of being forced into self-sufficiency by ridiculous NATO sanction temper-tantrums to wither in the face of the military might of a neighboring country with a land border and decades of being gutted by western vulture capitalists and which has had its military training informed by fascists high on their own propaganda supply. That's just common sense.

did anyone think that Ukraine could really stop a country with a population and economy of Russia?

Libs apparently. After decades of getting brains washed with narratives about "Asiatic zerg hordes" suicidally rushing into machine guns killzones and "economy the size of Italy" vs what they know well is entire economic power of NATO.

Ukraine is backed by the worst empire in the world with the most expensive military-industrial complex on the planet, and it's also not like there haven't been recent cases of the weaker side winning a war. I don't think that either of the possibilities should have been dismissed as completely improbable.

I recall reading how the MIC is basically the main industry and source of employment in a lot of states.

I also love how their conclusion basically contradicts the whole thesis of the article. They go on detailing how western analysts were basically wrong about everything, and how Russian production is ramping up. Then they throw in the cope that Russia can't keep this up forever, but they never discuss the key question of whether the west or Russia can keep it up longer.

"China collapsing any day now" warns man who has predicted its imminent collapse for 25 years

The only historical event Americans know about is WW2, and even that they don't really know anything about.

Clearly falling victim for the most famous classic blunder: Getting involved in a land war in Asia.