Commentary
Russia versus Ukraine: It’s an unexpected “near-peer” war.
Eleven months of combat and suffering demonstrate that on the battlefield Ukraine can defeat a Russian invasion then launch limited but sustained (and thus effective) local counter-offensives.
As Month 12 begins, satellites photograph trenches and shell holes, wire services report artillery slugfests and cable TV experts speculate on new attacks when the Russians get more soldiers, when the Ukrainians deploy Leopard 2 tanks.
In other words, the war has become a bloody stalemate between two armies that refuse to lose.
Feudal “peers” are fellow aristocrats. In geopolitics, “near-peer” is military, diplomat, and bureaucrat lingo for two rival nations or alliances in which the defense and diplomatic establishments are “nearly equal” (have equivalent capabilities); one wages war against the other….