General Discussions

[ElwoodBlues1]

Absolutely.

So far he's succeeded in elevating Zelenskyy's status globally, turned global (negative) attention on himself and his buddies with considerable impact on their personal financial fortunes (not Russians in general), created unnecessary hardship on his citizenry, underestimated an opponent (a cardinal sin in military strategy)...and so on.

Those who understand the psychology of Putin/Russians understand that it is somewhat different to the 'West'. As extraordinary as it may seem, he has better than 75% support from his population. At this stage there are only two options for Putin... claim a win with what he has 'achieved' thus far and back off or (like any self-respecting Dictator) escalate things to chemical/nuclear exchanges. Anyone who thinks Putin wouldn't opt for nuclear strikes as it would be a suicide also, doesn't understand his thinking or personality(?) type. Martyrdom would not be beyond him, even with the cost to his and other nations being horrendous (which wouldn't bother him for a nano second, he simply cannot be seen to lose).

Yep Ukraine will be his Stalingrad and like I said previously you have to offer him a way out that saves face for him so he isn't backed into a corner and becomes desperate enough to push the button on his nukes. He does want to make his mark on history and be seen as a winner like Stalin etc and that makes him dangerous to the world. Bit of crap land in the Donbass and Ukraine declaring itself neutral might end it and save many lives.