Alan,

Agree with most of your analysis.

The Ukraine is of course a proxy war...and perhaps if the Pentagon and NATO still read Sun Tzu, a profitable one for the Military-Industrial Complex and the Oil Cartel$.

The population of Chechnya was under a million and Georgia is still around 3.4 million. Grozny as you pointed out utterly destroyed and the Russian troops' use of rape, torture and looting seen as part of a terror campaign to suppress resistance and strengthen occupation.

While civilian populations can not replace highly trained soldiers as you so cogently point out, a guerilla war with a resistance taken from a much larger nation of some 44 million, will cost the Russians almost as much as international sanctions...for however long that will last...perhaps up until next winter when natural gas is needed.

Perhaps Sun Tzu's lines, other than 'all war is deception', bear some relevance to this war and of course his quotes cut both ways.

“Victorious warriors win first and then go to war, while defeated warriors go to war first and then seek to win."

"The supreme art of war is to subdue your enemy without fighting."

"There is no instance of a nation benefitting from prolonged warfare."

and this kicker:

"Appear weak when you are strong, and strong when you are weak. "

Thanks for a much needed excoriation of most News agencies, simplifying their 'Hollywood' reporting to such an extent that they are turning the Ukrainians into 'David vs. Goliath' Rambos.

Of course, the civilians and their infrastructure will pay the real price.

As my Irish mother would say, "Tis a pity. 'Tis.'