(Dobbs) Fighting For A Nation, Not A Paycheck
Survival as a nation is a motivator that could make the difference.
There’s a difference between fighting for your nation and fighting for your paycheck.
A fight for one’s nation wins almost every time. Vladimir Putin is learning this lesson in the most painful of ways.
He should have learned it before. 43 years ago, when his Soviet Union was an even stronger superpower, it invaded Afghanistan. I covered that war. I was with rag-tag units of the Mujaheddin when they went up against the superpower. The Soviets were in helicopter gunships. The Mujaheddin were on mules. But at the end of the day, soldiers fighting for a nation were able to rout soldiers fighting for a paycheck.
It is premature of course to conclude that Russia actually is losing this war, maybe even wishful thinking, but it is not precipitous to say that after seven months of a conflict it evidently expected to wrap up in days, Russia isn’t winning either.
Long live Ukraine’s soldiers in this battle. They are outmanned and outgunned, but they are fighting for their nation. In parts of that nation— parts that Putin only three days ago formally declared a part of his nation, and which only yesterday Russia’s lower house of parliament formally voted to absorb after the preposterous pretense of a popular plebiscite— the Ukrainians have got the Russians on the run.
Although the invaders have been taught that Ukraine is led by a bunch of Nazis and that the land they’ve stormed rightfully belongs to Russia, their weaknesses make it look like they’re just fighting for a paycheck. At least right now, that doesn’t seem to be enough to win. In territory that Russia has occupied for months— in fact in three of the four provinces Putin now calls part of Russia— Ukraine’s forces are re-raising the blue and yellow flag in the wake of Russian retreats. They’re retaking transportation hubs, they’re retaking industrial hubs. Their flag. Their hubs.
Somewhat surprisingly— although maybe it’s a reflection of an age when firewalls are so porous that even an authoritarian like Putin can’t keep his humiliations a secret— the Kremlin has acknowledged that its “special military operation” is not going as planned. With Russian troops literally encircled on a field of battle, the spokesman for the Ministry of Defense in Moscow admitted yesterday that “with numerically superior tank units… the enemy managed to forge deep into our defenses.” Those troops were being withdrawn, he said, to “more favorable positions.”
Clearly not part of the military game plan.
The Kremlin can’t even definitively say where the land it claims as its own actually starts and stops. Its official spokesman conceded it yesterday: “Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, in terms of the borders, we’re going to continue to consult with the population of these regions.” So where are those borders that define the new lines between Ukraine and Russia? “We’re going to continue to consult with the people who live in these regions.”
Clearly not part of the political plan.
Nor is Putin’s military conscription campaign going as he obviously hoped. Reportedly up to a quarter-million Russians have rushed for the borders since the draft was announced.
The governor in one region of Russia says that roughly half of the residents who got draft notices had been “returned home because they did not meet the criteria for military service.”
Clearly not part of the personnel replenishment plan.
And political support for Russia’s war isn’t going as planned either. In light of reports that arms and food and supplies are not reaching Russian soldiers, a senior member of parliament openly lamented yesterday, “What is this, that the greatest country in the world cannot provide everything that’s necessary.” The leader of Chechnya, who has been full-throated in support of the war, complained about an “incompetent” general for whom military leaders had “covered.” He should be sent, the Chechnyan demanded, “to the front to wash his shame off with blood.” The head of the infamous army of mercenaries known as the Wagner Group, that has been part of Russia’s most merciless forces, wrote in an online post about the military leadership, “Send all these pieces of garbage barefoot with machine guns straight to the front.”
Clearly not part of the patriotic plan. Nor the morale plan either.
Make no mistake, Russia hasn’t ceded most of the land it captured, and Vladimir Putin can make threats that his Ukrainian counterpart can’t match. The reality is, Russia keeps torturing, Ukrainians keep suffering, Russia keeps shelling, Ukrainians keep dying. But if momentum counts for anything at all, and if the righteousness of the cause makes any difference in the determination of the soldiers fighting for it, Ukraine still has a fighting chance.
Over almost five decades Greg Dobbs has been a correspondent for two television networks including ABC News, a political columnist for The Denver Post and syndicated columnist for Scripps newspapers, a moderator on Rocky Mountain PBS, and author of two books, including one about the life of a foreign correspondent called “Life in the Wrong Lane.” He has covered presidencies and politics at home and international crises around the globe, from Afghanistan to South Africa, from Iran to Egypt, from the Soviet Union to Saudi Arabia, from Nicaragua to Namibia, from Vietnam to Venezuela, from Libya to Liberia, from Panama to Poland. Dobbs has won three Emmys, and the Distinguished Service Award from the Society of Professional Journalists.
It is very hard to know whether Ukraine is actually gaining on Russia. Your writing is very helpful perspective. I do wonder whether the long slog is diminishng Putin’s credibility as leader and when his Kremlin buddies show up to take his keys.
Thank you Greg. I know Americans don’t want this becoming a nuclear war. First, we did sign an agreement with Ukraine the UK and Russia that if Ukraine gave up its substantial nuclear stockpile we would guarantee their territorial integrity. Second, if Russia is allowed to keep any Ukrainian territory through war no matter the cost to Russia it will let others know that it might be worth it for them to grab what they want. These are dangerous times. Let us not forget history as we did in the 1930’s and 40’s. Appeasement for the sake of peace does not bring peace. Thank you again your it is spot on and so timely.