BILL LEWIS: Is the Fat Lady Singing in Moscow?

With all the journalistic ink and airtime being justifiably devoted to the war in Iran at present, it's kind of easy to forget that there's another hotbed of hostilities continuing apace in a place called Ukraine. You remember that conflict, don't you? Russia launched a full-scale invasion of the Bread Basket of Europe on February 24, 2022, with the thinking that the fighting would last maybe a couple of days, two weeks tops. Four years later, hundreds of thousands of Russian soldiers have been killed (not to mention several thousand North Koreans who no doubt "voluntarily" enlisted to help fight the battle). And that doesn't even count the Ukrainian soldiers who have fought and died defending their turf.

As time drags on, it just seems as if Vlad "the Mad" Putin is taking his country down a very deep rabbit hole from which there is little chance of escape. A significant number of rubles have been expended to feed the war machine. And from what I've recently read, that's played havoc with the Russian economy. It's apparently pretty darn weak. Not quite as close to life support as, say, Iran's, but hardly robust.

Given that Putin came of age during the Cold War and the height of the powerful-nation status of the USSR, it's kind of easy to see why he has a hard time accepting the fact that the Russian Federation is no longer quite the Big Bad Soviet Bear. Certainly, throughout my childhood, the Soviet Union was the most formidable threat to the U.S. of A. We weren't taught to duck under our desks in the event of a nuclear blast from Moscow for nothing. (What brilliant D.C. bureaucrat thought that up?)

Just within the last few years, Putin's allies have not had a good run. Syrian strongman and close confidante of Vlad, Bashar al-Assad, is rumored to be living in some seaside dacha after he was sent packing by the Syrian citizenry. A couple of countries formerly aligned with the Soviet sphere are cooperating with the West (i.e., We the People). Hungary's Victor Orbán used to be a bosom buddy of Putin's, but he was recently defeated after 16 years in power. (One news source at the time speculated he lost because his party thought Hungarians were "stupid." That's rarely a good election strategy, although many Republicans and Democrats in this country use it every election cycle.) Plus, Russian actions in Africa are apparently not going well.

And all the while, other countries that used to say "How High" when Moscow said "Jump" are reportedly cozying up to the Chinese. On the surface, it has always looked as if Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jingping were BFFs, but that friendship might actually be strained at best. President Xi doesn't seem to tolerate fools gladly. And while Vladimir Putin is no fool himself, he must know that China might well be able to eat his lunch if it so desired. Predatory and ambitious are two adjectives used to describe the Beijing Boys.

There has been talk that with all the less-than-stellar stories concerning Russia these days the Federation itself may be headed in the same direction of the former Soviet empire. Which doesn't bode well for the current government nor for Putin personally. Reports have even surfaced that Vlad is tightening his personal security and maybe even finding a comfortable underground bunker or two in which to occasionally hunker down.

Those same reports, though, also point out that no one should write Putin off just yet. He's hung in there for a long time and isn't afraid to be daring. In this country, he might be called a wily politician. (Which would make him just one of many in the Land of the Free.)

Unfortunately, he and his minions still sit atop a rather large stockpile of nuclear devices. And correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure we're already engaged in a battle principally to stop crazy people in the world from obtaining and using such big bombs. We don't need another one.

It can't be any fun at all for Putin to watch the ebbing of Russia's once-great power and standing in the world dwindle and die by a thousand cuts. Which, like a cornered wild animal, makes him dangerous. So, while President Trump heads off to China shortly for a tête-à-tête with President Xi, it's probably in the best interests of both countries to keep an eye peeled toward Moscow. Putin undoubtedly is looking to cement his place in history. Let's hope he finds a way to extricate himself from current conflicts and doesn't decide to go out with a bang.

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This story was originally published May 11, 2026 at 5:28 AM.