I have to remind myself that Putin's hybrid war goes way beyond the shooting wars in Ukraine and the ME. The hybrid war has every potential to continue long after Trump and Putin are off the scene.
Maybe half a million people have been killed in Ukraine, the majority of which are Putin's troops. Terrible as this is, the Ukraine front maybe just theatre in Putin's circles.
Putin's longer game involves the installment of pro-Kremlin regimes in Europe and elsewhere.
What Putin did to help install Trump in 2016 was largely repeated in Slovakia with the instalment of Robert Fico in October 2023. Putin's influence campaigns reportedly used AI to spread the pro-Russia anti Ukraine message to base voters. Influence campaigns in Moldova, Romania, and Bulgaria are on going.
