Small Countries Beat Large Ones; Asymmetric Stakes Favor Ukraine

The belief that Ukraine must lose an attrition war because it is smaller is not convincing: small countries defeat large ones all the time (Taliban, US loss in Iraq), and the stakes are asymmetric — for Ukraine this is an existential war it cannot abandon, whereas for Russia it is an imperial adventure that can be called off tomorrow with no domestic consequences and even economic relief, so the war need not break in Russia's favor.