The current situation can only be regarded as a stalemate. In the service to which Russia is devoting 10 percent of its GDP, while Western countries are spendi

The current situation can only be regarded as a stalemate. In the service to which Russia is devoting 10 percent of its GDP, while Western countries are spending 1 percent. We don’t have to like that outcome to see that it’s inevitable and has been from the very start. It's not at all inevitable. Russia has lost many of its optional wars of aggression and foreign intervention, in the past. Putin will also be dead or starting to lose his marbles in a few years, and Russia's overall prospects for stability (even if there were no war at all) do not look particularly good after that.