Mighty Russia not so big, really. By Michael Arouet.

Russia is not as mighty as its propaganda wants you to believe.

Russia’s exports are lower than Poland’s, and many Russians still don’t even have access to decent sanitation.

No wonder they are in year five of the three-day Special Military Operation.

Russia is also now losing its war. Russia is still making some territorial gains, but the Ukrainian rate of gain of territory has been higher this year. Ukrainian drones are on top, in both sophistication and numbers, and the Ukrainians have begun launching machine-only assaults — no men in front. Russian casualties to date are more than twice Ukraine’s, and are at their highest rate in the war (approaching 2,000 men per day). The Ukrainians are hitting oil and military targets up to 1,000 km from their border with regularity and in significant numbers, and the Russian transport system (air, rail) is collapsing under economic sanction and the lack of access to spare parts. The annual May Day parade in Moscow has been scaled way down, and there is even talk that Putin is afraid.

Russia’s GDP is only slightly larger than Australia’s (US$1.9T).