Ukraine is the latest disaster in a long history of Russian military dysfunction.

The Russian army has had its fair share of military disasters with its most recent in Ukraine being a clear product of a system that refuses to accept the truth and only deals in exercising unlimited power.

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This latest essay by Rob Johnson looks at what has gone wrong for the Russian army in Ukraine and the historical roots and patterns of these failures. The essay looks at the potential for a long-term stalemate as seen in Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine previously and the historic precedents for high Russian casualties. The essay ends with an assessment that the institutionalised and endemic bullying, corruption, lack of accountability, and unwillingness for self-critique, will offer few opportunities for improving this military dysfunction. However, Russian military failures and ongoing dysfunction should not be viewed with optimism, given the state’s nuclear capabilities and the absolutist outlook of its leader.

You can read the essay here, and many more excellent pieces of work in the Engelsberg Ideas notebook here.