Even just a couple years ago before the Ukraine War kicked up a notch, there was this sheen of mystique around NATO militaries in general and the US military in particular. At least to me growing up, there was always the sense of “If the US really pulled out all the stops, they could do untold damage to any enemy, like nothing we’ve seen before, since all our wars these days are special ops shadow wars.”

Turns out that lol, nope. It’s cathartic as someone who grew up with dim childhood memories of the disgusting cultural gloating that followed our pillaging of Iraq to see so many of the myths of western military supremacy dash themselves against Russian minefields these last couple years.