Speaking on Friday at the Seoul Forum 2022, former US Defense Secretary James Mattis criticized Russia’s war in Ukraine, calling it “immoral” and “functionally stupid”.
“We have a saying in America, we say countries with allies thrive, countries without allies wither, and we’re just watching Russia wither before our eyes,” Mattis said.
Asked what military lessons can be learned from the war so far, the former US Marine said: “One doesn’t have an incompetent general in charge of your operations.”
He also called Russia’s military performance “pathetic” and denounced its campaign in Ukraine as an “immoral, strategically incompetent, operationally foolish and strategically foolish attempt”.
Mattis spoke of previous US attempts to try to bring Russia into a “community of nations”, but said this was not possible with Vladimir Putin as leader.
“The tragedy of our times is that Putin is a creature straight out of Dostoevsky. He goes to bed angry every night, he goes to sleep fearful every night, he sleeps every night thinking that Russia is beset with nightmares And it has guided him,” he said.
Mattis said Putin had removed anyone from his circle who would disagree with him, so he “probably thought the Ukrainian people were going to welcome him.”