Looking at the donations to Ukraine this spring, I am truly impressed. It took Europe a long time to get the aid going, but if we keep up this level, I am confident Putin will lose.
The Russian economy is in trouble, and Putin is both running out of money and Soviet era weapons.
I once saw an interview with a German who lived in Berlin in the last weeks of World War II. She said: "It looked like everything would work out, right until it all fell apart".
Considering that Russia didn't have much debt before the war started, I sincerely doubt that "Putin is... running out of money..."
I have little doubt that if Putin needs money he can get it from somewhere, i.e. China. And the problem is that, much like monarchist France's wars in the 18th century, if he thinks that any monetary price is worth the war, then he can keep on heaping on debt until it becomes unbearable and the economy collapses.
@amici@randahl Decades is probably a too much. There are other factors influencing the economy than the availability of of money, and Russia will run into some serious problems within a couple of years.
People who thinks they'll benefit. China might view the war as beneficial in exhausting and distracting the west, while they gain ever greater influence over Russia. So China might want a longer war.
Russia is in a very serious proxy war with the West. Unless Beijing are planning something similar against Russia, I don't see why they would be intimidated.
They're willing to invest all over Africa even where the political climate is not so stable, and even in Afghanistan. In comparison, Russia does not seem like the worst place to try and get some influence over, although China is of course going to invest and sell to them as beneficial for themselves as possible.