Great thread here on the sort of nonsense that impresses the Jez left (not Jez himself in this case). I wouldn't have included James Meadway though- I don't generally make too much of Like on Twitter, and he's OK. Might just have skim read it and felt it gelled with his sense of pessimism.
Not only was Scott Ritter (I know) predicting pretty much instant conquest, he thought Russia was going to invade the likes of Poland, the Baltics and Finland if NATO did anything.
I think Red Brown Horshoe is an overdone idea. But it is striking to me that both of these shared a sense that Russia was a very smart military superpower, while the US and Europe can barely organise its own shit in the pan.