The curse of Cassandra has got to suck. (know what's coming, and have nobody willing to listen).

I was in the "They'll lose, eventually - but Russia's incapable of holding it - just from the numbers needed to do that."

The RF didn't even have the numbers to hold with a non-hostile population. I'd expect that's why the CIA was looking for ways to fund/equip Ukranian partisans.