Three recent major geopolitical confrontations teach a consistent lesson: overwhelming military power alone cannot produce the desired political outcome. Ukraine, Venezuela, and Iran differ vastly in culture, geography, and strategy, but together they illustrate an enduring rule of statecraft: If you intend to force fundamental change on an adversary, you must know how to engage it from both without and within.Russian President Vladimir Putin learned the first half of this lesson the hard way. When Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Moscow anticipated a swift collapse, but that didn’t happen. Instead, Putin badly miscalculated on two fronts:First, the Ukrainian military was no longer the fractured force Russia encountered in 2014. By seizing Crimea and backing separatists in the Donbas, Russia unintentionally handed Ukraine eight years to reform, train, and build hard-won combat experience.
OPINION: NORTH KOREA ISN’T WINNING WITH NUKES. IT’S WINNING WITH OUR BOREDOMSecond, and more critically, Ukraine’s internal political order held fast. President Volodymyr Zelensky stayed in Kyiv, state institutions remained operational, society mobilized, and Western support poured in. Russia struck hard from the outside, but it failed entirely to break Ukraine from within.The Trump administration’s operation against dictator Nicolas Maduro’s regime in Venezuela presents a striking contrast. Unmatched American military force and intelligence capabilities proved decisive. Yet force alone does not explain why Maduro’s capture avoided leaving a chaotic power vacuum behind. Long before troops arrived, Washington was already cultivating key figures inside the Venezuelan political architecture.Subsequent reporting confirmed that high-level regime figures — including then-Vice President Delcy Rodriguez and National Assembly President Jorge Rodriguez — had maintained discreet backchannels with U.S. and regional intermediaries, signaling a readiness to cooperate once Maduro was removed.Real changes come from the inside out
