The Ukrainians are Hurting the Russians, Russia is Running Out of Shit

A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters, said that in recent days, Russia had requested support from China, including military equipment, to press forward in its ongoing war with Ukraine. The official did not provide details on the scope of the request.

That's an intersting bit of news, It implies that the Ukrainians are doing some real damage to the Russian army.

I have written before of the hubris of countries that start wars, thinking that they will be short, sharp and decisive. The Russians planned for a short and sharp war with Ukraine. The Ukrainians did not oblige them.

For the West, NATO and allies in the Western Pacific need to take a hard look at this war and then look at their own stocks of war materiel and their abilities to quickly replenish them.

For example, I don't know how many Javelins LockMart can make a year, but a guess would be a thousand a year. Stinger MANPADs apparently are out of production. I don't know how many of either have been or will be delivered to the Ukrainian army/resistance. If an air war happens, the F-22 is long out of production.

In a war that drags out, we are all but guaranteed to have a modern verion of the Shell Crisis.

But as for China, they should look at their trade markets of Europe, North America and elsewhere and compare those to their trade markets in Russia and Iran before they decide whether or not to underwrite Putin's war of aggression. Or maybe they might want to think about pressing their own territorial claims in Siberia whilst the opportunity presents itself. Russia may not be the only nation with dreams of reclaiming some of its territorial empire.