Russian Talk about ‘Miracle Weapons’ in Ukraine Sure Sign Moscow Faces Defeat, El Murid Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Oct. 5 – Talking about miracle weapons is in most cases “the last crutch” humans have when things aren’t going the way they had expected, Anatoly Nesmiyan who blogs under the screen name El Murid says, with people first saying miracles have benefited their opponents and then talking about miracles for themselves that will turn things around.

            At one level, of course, such talk is the nonsense it appears to be, El Murid writes. But at another and more important one, it is a sign that those who engage in it are on the losing side and are trying to make sense of what is taking place before they can admit openly what is happening (kasparov.ru/material.php?id=633D9F3FD824C&section_id=50A6C962A3D7C).

            Talk about Turkish drones giving Ukraine victories has been followed by talk that Russia will soon have some kind of miracle weapon that will reverse those wins and bring Russia the victory it expected, the Russian blogger says. But this focus on miracle weapons obscures the reality that the outcomes so far and in the future are the reflection of broader developments.

            The war in Ukraine is “a competition of organizational structures, resources, and technologies” as a whole, not the result of some magic weapon. Until recently, Russians were talking about miracle weapons like the Turkish drones that supposedly were causing Russian defeats. But now, they are talking about some miracle for Russian forces.

            That miracle weapon in the minds of many involves the use of nuclear weapons, something Russia has and Ukraine does not. But employing such weapons will “only raise the level and stakes of the conflict,” and that will not bring Moscow the victory it expected or thinks they will.

            The Russian authorities can’t manage things at the current level, and they won’t be able to do so at any new and higher one. “If you can’t keep control of your car at 90 kilometers an hour, then pressing down on the accelerator and going faster won’t give you more control” whatever you may think.

            “But that’s the problem with the Kremlin,” El Murid concludes. “It can no longer slow down or stop. That is because a gamble is a gamble precisely because it is a one-way ticket.”