On the other side of the hill

In a commentary, SMU Adjunct Professor Joergen Oerstroem Moeller referred to a recent British report which suggested that the West had been sleeping while Russia and President Putin built up a threatening military arsenal and harboured a grand strategic design to roll back the decline of Russia since the collapse of the Soviet Union. He noted that the West seemed oblivious to the fact that Russia had suffered a strategic defeat disguised by tactical victories. This is exemplified by Russia’s failure to get Ukraine in its camp or to stop Ukraine from moving toward the West. To compensate for this strategic defeat, Putin may contemplate moves elsewhere along the Russian border, with the Caucasus and the Baltic countries being the most likely candidates.