Leadership is not the art of responding to every provocation. It is the discipline of knowing which provocations to ignore—and when ignoring them strengthens, rather than weakens, the path to victory.
"Russia also launched a massive missile attack on the American-owned marine terminal Olimpex, which is considered the largest in the Odessa region. This is the second time this year that Russia hit the terminal (I wrote about it in July). This terminal is one of the largest grain export facilities in the country, with an annual throughput capacity of up to 5 million tons. However, Ukraine was moving more than grain through Olimpex. According to witnesses, even though this facility was protected by Patriot air defense systems, the Russian missiles hit the terminal unimpeded. The subsequent explosions turned out to be so powerful that a supermassive mushroom cloud arose over Odessa, which indicates that this marine terminal contained numerous warehouses filled with NATO weapons."
What this article exposes is not Russian weakness, but Western misperception. The persistent refusal to seriously engage with Russian strategic logic, replacing analysis with moral superiority and automatic delegitimization, is steadily eroding Europe’s ability to navigate escalation dynamics. Europe appears dangerously unprepared for a world in which power is exercised asymmetrically and patience is a strategic asset. History suggests that misreading restraint as incapacity rarely ends well, whether in Europe’s assessment of Russia or Washington’s assumptions about China.
Putin missiled I think 4 US companies, and a NATO command center in Ukraine after that incident. Which I'm pretty sure was tit for tat. So it was not ignored. Just not reported.
The example of bombing Berlin during the Battle of Britain is a good example. H1tler then switched from bombing airfields to bombing London and enabled the RAF to keep operating..
"Russia also launched a massive missile attack on the American-owned marine terminal Olimpex, which is considered the largest in the Odessa region. This is the second time this year that Russia hit the terminal (I wrote about it in July). This terminal is one of the largest grain export facilities in the country, with an annual throughput capacity of up to 5 million tons. However, Ukraine was moving more than grain through Olimpex. According to witnesses, even though this facility was protected by Patriot air defense systems, the Russian missiles hit the terminal unimpeded. The subsequent explosions turned out to be so powerful that a supermassive mushroom cloud arose over Odessa, which indicates that this marine terminal contained numerous warehouses filled with NATO weapons."
It’s the judoka’s respond.
Great piece.
What this article exposes is not Russian weakness, but Western misperception. The persistent refusal to seriously engage with Russian strategic logic, replacing analysis with moral superiority and automatic delegitimization, is steadily eroding Europe’s ability to navigate escalation dynamics. Europe appears dangerously unprepared for a world in which power is exercised asymmetrically and patience is a strategic asset. History suggests that misreading restraint as incapacity rarely ends well, whether in Europe’s assessment of Russia or Washington’s assumptions about China.
Suggest you read the article again: rather than your impression, I actually have called it Putin's strategic dominance.
Putin missiled I think 4 US companies, and a NATO command center in Ukraine after that incident. Which I'm pretty sure was tit for tat. So it was not ignored. Just not reported.
The example of bombing Berlin during the Battle of Britain is a good example. H1tler then switched from bombing airfields to bombing London and enabled the RAF to keep operating..