The War in Ukraine Showed That Global Superpowers No Longer Have the Absolute Power They Used to Assume. Traditional Wars of Conquest Are Almost Impossible in the Modern World, as New Technologies Level the Playing Field Between Military Giants and Smaller Countries.
As The Wall Street Journal notes, despite Russia's vast superiority in military power, Ukraine managed to turn the tide of events, hold the front line, and deliver a series of painful blows deep into Russia's rear, Focus writes.
"These events showed how technological progress – in the form of drones and cheap precision missiles – "The distance between small nations and great powers that spend hundreds of billions of dollars on defense has been bridged," the publication writes.
This global shift in the balance of power has dramatically narrowed the possibilities for achieving geopolitical goals solely through military means.
"The type of war we were accustomed to and that Russia was planning in Ukraine - a lightning-fast invasion and occupation - is no longer conceivable. A war lasts as long as a given nation has the stamina and will to resist. "Conquering a country whose citizens are ready to fight is a mission impossible, regardless of superiority in manpower and equipment," commented Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto.
The Chief of Defense of the Netherlands, General Onno Eijelsheim, also emphasizes that in the modern world, overthrowing a foreign regime cannot be achieved with conventional weapons alone.
"It is almost absurd to think about completely conquering such countries, even if we are talking about cases like the United States against Iran or Russia against Ukraine. If you do not achieve decisive success in the first two weeks, you are stuck in a stalemate from which it is extremely difficult to escape. Today, if you want to achieve something on the battlefield, you have to act extremely quickly," the general is categorical.
"Before the conflict in Ukraine, Russia was considered to have the second-strongest army in the world. "Today, we see even the most powerful armies getting bogged down in conflicts that are not going according to plan," said Chinese retired colonel Zhou Bo.
According to him, the main conclusion for Beijing is the need to urgently exchange experience with Russian military experts on the tactics of conducting modern drone warfare.
"China is the largest producer of unmanned aerial vehicles in the world, but we have no real combat experience with them. Only nations that have tested them on the battlefield know how effective they really are," Bo added.
At the same time, Singaporean diplomat and scholar Bilahari Kausikan issued a warning to Taipei, noting that unlike Ukraine, Taiwan may not have the same will to resist. The reason is that China has successfully conducted hybrid operations to undermine the spirit of the Taiwanese population.
"I often tell my friends in Taiwan that they have learned the wrong lesson from the events in Ukraine," Kausikan said. "The big takeaway is not that the democratic world automatically helps other democracies. The lesson is that the Ukrainians helped themselves first, and only after they proved their will to fight did the rest of the world decide to stand behind them."