On February 24, 2022, Russia launched a full-scale offensive against Ukraine.
Initially, everyone thought it would be a blitzkrieg, however, two years on, the war continues.
For Russia, this is a bad result.
A war has made people realize that Russia is no longer as strong as it once was, and Russia's international status has been seriously affected.
Although China is not involved in the war, it is worrying to see what is happening to Russia today.
The survival of a country is always at stake.
What Russia is facing today has also given China four lessons.
The first lesson of the Russia-Ukraine war for China is that we must pay attention to the value of intelligence.
In the history of human warfare, information warfare has always been a very important link, and whoever can grasp more intelligence will be able to grasp the situation on the battlefield.
Russia's successive losses on the battlefield are directly related to the excessive leakage of their intelligence.
At the beginning, Russia attacked Ukraine only a month before it was hit head-on.
Ukraine, in the face of extreme disadvantage, was able to organize a strategic **.
At the same time, many high-ranking Russian officers have been hit by precision strikes from Ukraine on the front line, and even armored vehicle units have been blocked.
This development is completely beyond Russia's imagination, because there is an objective huge gap between the military strength of Russia and Ukraine.
It stands to reason that Ukraine could not have carried out such a precise strike against Russia.
But the problem is that behind Ukraine, there is the support of Western forces led by the United States.
NATO has built a sophisticated intelligence network for Ukraine, with spies and high-tech means frequently dispatched, making Russia's various military operations nowhere to hide.
There is ample evidence that back in November 2021, the Ukrainian side received several pieces of intelligence.
The intelligence mentions that Russia may launch an offensive against Ukraine.
Because of this, Ukraine has made a series of preparations for the war, which has also prevented Russia from achieving the results of the war it wants in the first time.
Moreover, the means by which NATO obtains intelligence information, Russia is simply not able to guard against it.
Some NATO staff revealed that in order to confront Russia, the United States sent tens of thousands of drones to Ukraine for reconnaissance over the course of several months.
These drones will send a large number of ** reports every day to NATO headquarters.
Under such intensive surveillance, the battlefield has long since become completely transparent.
Even some private companies were involved in the war.
Google, for example, has provided a lot of map intelligence to the United States, and at the same time, Google has also blocked Russian lines.
In addition, there are more than a dozen civilian satellite companies, which have already signed agreements with the United States to provide intelligence to the United States at any time.
Russia, by contrast, has been heavily sanctioned on these fronts and has no way to wage a reciprocal intelligence war.
It has to be said that in terms of intelligence, the United States was prescient.
Even without the Russia-Ukraine war, the U.S. intelligence network would have grown to a terrifying level long ago.
And Russia is obviously not serious enough, and it did not react until it was beaten.
It's just that it's too late to make up for it now.
In his speech, the US Secretary of the Air Force also said triumphantly:"Russia is no longer a competitor to the United States in terms of military power. ”
The second revelation brought by the Russia-Ukraine war is that if a country wants to become a strong country, it must establish a complete industrial system.
Russian industry, which has become almost a joke internationally in recent years.
When it comes to Russia, people subconsciously think that this country can only be handled by heavy industry, and light industry is miserable.
The bias of light and heavy industry has always been a stubborn disease that Russia cannot improve.
And now, what is even more alarming for Russians is that the problem of light industry cannot be solved, and there is also a crisis on the side of heavy industry.
In September 2023, Russia actually signed an agreement with Iran to buy a large number of Iranian military supplies.
This thing itself is very strange, there are so many arsenals in Russia, can't it already produce enough ** to support the war?
The answer is yes, in fact, many arsenals in Russia have already fallen into a state of shutdown.
On the Russian-Ukrainian battlefield, due to the serious shortage of fighter jets, Russia even moved out old objects from World War II.
What's even more deadly is that they have an astonishingly high attrition rate on the battlefield, and they are empty, but the rear cannot be replenished, and Russia's life is stretched.
European and American countries have joined forces to impose brutal sanctions on Russia, and Russia's arsenal is difficult to operate in this situation.
In the end, in order to get out of the predicament, they can only take the simplest and crude way, which is to ask for foreign purchases**.
However, once it comes to the point where it is necessary to buy from foreign countries, the situation of the country is extremely disturbing.
What should Russia do if one day, Europe and the United States continue to increase sanctions, and even Iran and other countries cannot sell ** to Russia?
In contrast, Ukraine does not have to worry about the problem of **.
Although Ukraine's domestic industry is more moribund than Russia's, in order to confront Russia, Europe and the United States will always continue to transfuse blood to Ukraine to ensure that Ukraine lasts longer than Russia.
In this war of attrition, it will be difficult for Russia to survive to the end.
It's just that people can't figure out why Russia, which is so huge, can't even run its industry?
And the reason behind this is actually not complicated. The reason is that after the collapse of the Soviet Union, neither Russia nor Ukraine could completely inherit the industrial system of the Soviet Union.
The Soviet Union made a rough division of the industries undertaken by the various regions, and each region assumed an irreplaceable part.
This was a simple and efficient way in the Soviet era, but once these countries were separated, they became parts that could not be coordinated.
Moreover, the Russians know what the problem is, but it is difficult to solve it.
Because, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia's industry faced an impact from Western countries.
Before Russia's industry could rise, Western goods were already flowing into the market.
Under this strong competition, Russian industry was prematurely abandoned.
The third lesson of the Russia-Ukraine war is that a country must have a healthy and sound economic structure.
The structural problems of the Russian economy are similar to those of the industrial sector.
That is, the development is extremely uneven and extremely homogeneous.
At the beginning of the war, Russia made a fortune.
But as the war dragged on for a longer and longer period, Russia's economic struggling began to manifest itself.
In the first half of this year, Russia has already experienced an extremely obvious fiscal deficit, and the value of the ruble has shrunk in the international market, and its purchasing power has evaporated by 25%.
Russia's economic structure has always had problems, but the outbreak of war has also caused all the hidden dangers buried in the past to break out at the same time.
As can be seen from Russia's past economic survey reports, the primary industry, that is, agricultural production, contributes only 4% of GDP, and the secondary industry, manufacturing, accounts for only 15% of GDP.
This fully shows that Russia's agriculture and industry have not been able to develop steadily after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Not to mention the tertiary industry, Russia has been sanctioned by Western countries for a long time, and there is not enough room to develop tourism and service industries.
So, what is Russia's GDP supported by?
The answer is energy. In people's minds, Russia is a country where most of the country's land is barren and vast despite its vast territory.
But contrary to the impression, there may not be enough food growing on Russian soil, but there are huge amounts of natural resources buried beneath the land.
Russia's reserves of natural resources can outweigh any country in the world.
For this reason, the exploitation of natural resources has been one of the main economies of Russia for many years.
Before the war, Russia made a windfall through energy deals with Europe.
It is precisely this money that hides all kinds of shortcomings in Russia.
Even the data provided by the United States shows that even if the war consumes such a huge amount of wealth, Russia can continue to sustain itself for 50 years with underground energy.
However, a healthy economy can never have energy extraction at the heart of its economy.
Russia's over-reliance on energy means that every turbulence in the international energy market will hurt Russia's economy.
For example, in 2008, when the price of oil was the highest, a crisis immediately broke out in Russia.
And now too, after the outbreak of the war, due to European and American sanctions, Russia's energy transactions are no longer as smooth as they used to be.
Energy that cannot be realized will not save Russia now.
What's worse is that if the war is lost, Russia's energy holdings will inevitably attract the coaxing of other countries.
When the time comes, Russia will be greeted by an even more tragic fate.
What's more, the war has plunged Russia's domestic economy into a vicious circle.
Due to the tension of the war on the front line, Russia has no spare energy to develop other economic projects, so it can only pile up all its capital on the war, which makes the development of the economic system even more unbalanced.
And the economic imbalance will lead to the aggravation of the domestic crisis, and Russia has broken into a dead end from which it cannot get out.
The fourth revelation brought about by the Russian-Ukrainian war is that we must pay attention to international warfare.
There is a saying that justice is in the hearts of the people.
However, in the great power game, this sentence often does not work.
Because it can change a country's international image, and even, it can make a country fall into isolation and go to extinction.
In terms of **, the United States has an innate advantage, and almost all influential ** in the world have the injection of American capital. Google, Twitter, and other major forums for netizens to speak out, are also in the hands of the United States.
As soon as the war began, major social networks in the United States banned Russia one after another.
All news that happens positively for Russia is blocked, and news that promotes a negative image of Russia is hung high on the front page.
For an ordinary person who is on the sidelines, it is impossible for them to judge a country completely realistically.
As soon as a large amount of negative Russian ** information floods the Internet, the minds of ordinary people will naturally be led away.
Internationally, Russia has been molded into a complete villain.
People are constantly attacking Russia as a **rotten country, an international ***
However, if we put aside the influence of ** and look at the Russian-Ukrainian war, we will find that Ukraine and the NATO behind it have shown a lower moral bottom line than Russia in this war.
It's just that no one is attacking this. Because, all the sins are perfectly covered up under the news.
Even if some reporters want to dig out the truth, the voice of one or two people is too small after all.
Over time, in the minds of the population, opposition to Russia became absolutely correct.
The people's support is often the key to war.
And now, countless people in the international community are shouting and shouting at Russia, so Russia's war will be even more difficult.
What's more, not only the outside world, but also many people in Russia have also been bewitched by the West's ** war and doubt their own country and **.
In the face of internal and external difficulties, how long can Russia hold out on to the front line?
In fact, Ukraine, which is at war with Russia, is also an example of being destroyed by the first war.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Ukraine would have had a chance to be reborn.
But it is precisely under the influence of the West that young people in Ukraine have abandoned their past beliefs, believing that as long as they believe in Western democracy and freedom, they can achieve happiness.
Driven by this thinking, an entire generation of Ukrainians threw themselves into the arms of the West.
However, in the end, in exchange, the country became a pawn in the hands of the United States.
Now on the battlefield, although Ukraine has created a miracle, it has an advantage.
However, it is clear to onlookers that the fate of Ukraine does not depend on the outcome of this war.
Even if Ukraine becomes the winner of the war, its final fate will still be to continue to be a pawn until it is squeezed out of value by the United States.
Countless people have also assumed that if the United States' ** war did not work for Ukraine, would everything be different today?
However, the wheel of history cannot be turned back, and Ukraine can only accept such a fate.
The Russian-Ukrainian war is far from us, but it is also close.
This war uses bloody examples to make us further recognize the reality.
Never have illusions about the enemy, only self-improvement is the real way out.
Reference: Wang Jian, "The Russian Economy in a Vicious Circle".
Ling Yan, "Research on Ukrainian Intelligence Work in the Russia-Ukraine Conflict".
The new weekly newspaper "** War: Another Battlefield Behind the Russia-Ukraine Conflict".
This article was originally written by "Literature and History", and has been opened to protect rights on the whole network.