Thread by @ColSanjayPande

1. Ukraine had no army worth protecting their own country. They had no Air Force or Navy. Today every ‘conventional’ armed forces member is either not seen or is mixed with civilians / hiding in cities for urban warfare. Entire countryside is a ‘free for Russia’ area.

2. What war is this? Russia, right from day 1, targeted infrastructure, IT hubs, networks and any and everything that takes decades to rebuild. Their aim is to cause damage of proportion that will take 4-5 decades to rebuild. None will dare to rebuild Ukraine. Where are Indian

3. pro-Ukraine lobbies? Without knowledge of ego-politics we had a million experts. The BEST were few Retired Lt Generals who published ‘Lessons Learnt from Ukraine War’ after 10 days of war. War is serious business. War is geopolitics.

4. NATO-US were like Indian crowds- ‘Ukraine tum aage badho, ham tumhare saath hain’- first bullet fired and they vanished. War is not a weak country’s job to take. It requires strength. What Ukraine ‘could’ have done is to be studied. Ukraine walked into an ambush.

5. We have dumbs as experts on TV moulding thinking of people on Ukraine. Twitter was full of Indians supporting Ukraine without having knowledge of which side to face to see Ukraine. Putin bashing, Zelensky hero and how Russian Army was untrained. Where do these dumbs come from?

6. We in India do not have ‘strategic’ culture which requires a person to think about ‘nation’ as the smallest unit to talk about nationalism. If it was Ukraine, it was everybody talking about it. 10 Mar and entire India is Election, Election, Election. Next day? Kashmir Files

7. Where is Ukraine? Strategy? Lessons Learnt by Retired Generals? BYGONE ARMY by a General! You know what Ukraine is relegated to?

-Sunbathing at beach but PRAYERS FOR UKRAINE

-In Mussoorie, sweet cold, but cannot get Ukraine out of my mind

8.
-Alumni get together, despite loud music, I pray for Ukrainians

See?

-All EXPERTS on Ukraine have vanished.

Do you feel silly?

My point always has been, want to really learn on Twitter? Try and identify people with deep intellect.

9. Ukraine War is about ‘will’ of a nation. Russian ‘will’ was unambiguous & simply be described in two words, ‘Discipline Ukraine’. No quantification was required since there was none. ‘When’ will Ukraine be considered as ‘disciplined’ is Russian decision. They made it known.

10. Russia made it known over years. The trap was laid, ambush strengthened. I am sure their army war gamed it for years. Russia would have spent considerable time on NATO countries. US? Russia was not bothered. Without a base, US is just gas. Russia ensures each NATO country was

11. be sufficiently ‘motivated’ (threatened) not to welcome US. Syria? Which countries provided US Air Force bases? See? Entire logistics was is in place but none offered it to US to support Ukraine. Now did all these developments take place overnight? It takes years to convert

12. agreements and encouragement to be converted to military logistical build up. US and each NATO member was made to believe that “Russia will NEVER attack’. Ukraine bought it. Mind you, Ukraine War in India STARTED and ENDED with evacuation of students. See how shallow we are?

13. With such short sight we discussed and dumped Ukraine. None is interested today. Experts have moved from war to elections to Kashmir Files. Will India ever get serious on National Security? To me, #UkraineWar is an opportunity to study and gaze into India’s future. How should

14. we shape ourselves for 2072? The first question is, are we taking federalism too far? Has federalism strengthened or weakened India? Why is this not a mainstream debate? The answer to 2072 lies in this. We need not count tanks and aircrafts in Ukraine-Russia War. We need to

15. develop a mindset and the ‘will’ to take on biggest threat to India, i.e. China. It need not be war. We need to align. The alignment cannot be as unequals. So? Build up in every sphere including military and have a National Security Doctrine that must unambiguously say

16. India will have no hesitation in inflicting serious all round damage should it be attacked. Ukraine had all the ‘desire’ to take on Russia but had no ‘will’. Assuming Russian attack was unavoidable, what preparation should Ukraine have done? What would have stopped Russia

17. in tracks? Only one thing. Attack on Russian towns and cities by whatever means. This would have required five years of preparation. Word would have leaked. The ‘will’ would have forced Russia to think before launching an offensive, and soon they had, they would have 40-50

18. cities under attack. Ukraine would still have been punished but would that be better than today? Zelensky pleading for a meeting with Putin? Country being punished? Infrastructure destroyed? NATO-US evaporated? Ukraine is now boxer in ring who can neither get out nor fight

19. We need to first stand as one nation, second, we need to thwart the war of third front we already are fighting and then we need to develop strength in defence, in rupee, in trade, in industry, in education and in international projection. Russia was, is and will remain Indias

20. closest ally. We must FIRST get Russian Gas Pipeline to India. It’s more than sufficient to discipline Pakistan. While QUAD looks good in visuals, no one is more desperate than Russia and China to access Indian Ocean. That brings in RIC. Work and add Iran, to make it RIIC.

21. Now work on Saudi. THE AXIS needs to shift to RIICS. US is a WATERLOCKED COUNTRY. Let it continue that way. Why does no one ever talk of a WATERLOCKED US? It cannot do without land in Europe and Asia to influence. To continue…… hope you are liking it.