War shatters lives in eastern Ukraine as the world looks away

The Ukrainian army is seriously deficient, I wouldn't put it on much of a higher level than the irregular forces in 80's Afghanistan. The regular army has chronic shortages of everything. In fact a lot of it actually started off as irregular forces- volunteers and such fighting in the east of their own volition.

Islamist extremists are much more willing to play this game. The Russians don't seem keen on an all out battle, and neither do the Ukrainians.

Yes, this is why I put the comparison with the eve of WWII. It's much, much easier to just let everything slide. There's the French phrase, c'est en mangeant que vient l'appétit - it's when one eats that they get an appetite. Where is the red line which Russia cannot cross ? Constantly shifting off at a subtle pace, by design.

The Russians are much better equipped for asymmetric warfare on their periphery than NATO is. Russia's entire military has been structured to operate in the Near Abroad, and their logistics in this geographical area are much better.

They can be better equipped (which is totally fixable on NATO's end anyway) but it's only a matter of making the occupation forces suffer sufficiently that it becomes a serious PR problem back home. Or compels the Russians to spend even more money on life-supporting the DNR, and NATO will easily win such a money contest in the end.

/r/europe Thread Parent Link - irishtimes.com