quickymart:

 

Right, but if they capture Putin, will it be like Saddam again, or something different? (genuine question)

 

Nobody is hunting Putin.

I guess Putin won't be visiting the troops on front line.
He could tell them where they are and why they should die for him personally.
Same troops may see a way to end the war with little bloodshed.

Yeh a mountain Lair, a pulp fiction villain.
He sells himself as action man, judo, bear hunting and such.

Now there is example of a real leader exposing themselves to real risk.

When you are a virtual dictator, its all about you.
Decades of this probably corrodes your personality from the inside.

Having everything that he could materially want in Russia, seeing death ever closer.
Do you go back to what you have really wanted the old USSR back again.

This makes a big difference as you decompose in the grave ?
Yeh its hard for sane people to understand.

I wouldn't read too much into Putin being holed up somewhere, that's going to be SOP for a President of a nuclear power. 

It's believable that he'd be pissed but I also can't really believe he expected a different result given the lack of commitment to air superiority and basic things like supply lines. I really struggle to see how this could have ever been over in a single day.

I mean you can probably assume Putin is pissed it's not over sooner and that he would have liked a decisive victory, but writing it off to incompetence is something you'd do at your peril.

GV27:

And now this:

https://twitter.com/POLITICOEurope/status/1498088791604891649

"European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has announced that Ukraine belongs in the European Union and the bloc wants the country to join — a rebuke of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s own claims over the Eastern European country."

This is rapidly getting out of hand.

this is what i think will happen

Putin's ego is bigger than the planet, and that ego is bruised by Ukraine resistance

he will escalate violence and commit war crimes

in doing so leading to his demise

either convicted by international court or holed up in his bunker in russia never to be seen again

also you don't want to hear this but been reading social media and Trump supporters (yes Kiwis included) are blaming Biden for this war

Batman:

 

this is what i think will happen

 

Putin's ego is bigger than the planet, and that ego is bruised by Ukraine resistance

 

he will escalate violence and commit war crimes

 

in doing so leading to his demise

 

either convicted by international court or holed up in his bunker in russia never to be seen again

 

He already has, they're launching rockets and shells into civilian areas; however I agree he'll escalate

he's got a psychiatric disorder. the only way i see this stopping is his generals munity or someone takes him out.

Batman:

also you don't want to hear this but been reading social media and Trump supporters (yes Kiwis included) are blaming Biden for this war

Russia moving in thermobaric weapons. They suck the air out of everything including people.

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/world/462397/russia-ukraine-war-what-are-thermobaric-weapons

Looks like Ukraine is making good use of drones.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10558543/Ukraines-Air-Force-claims-launch-successful-drone-strikes-obliterating-Russian-convoys.html

ezbee:

I guess Putin won't be visiting the troops on front line.
He could tell them where they are and why they should die for him personally.

gzt: EU and NATO are two different things. Not all EU member countries are NATO member countries.

It's still bringing EU influence right to his doorstep - he's often railed against 'Europe' and not specifically Nato. He sees it as fundamentally at odds with Russian interests. 

I mean don't ask me, the whole thing makes no sense. If he'd taken Ukraine by now, he'd just have new de facto borders that are right up against NATO states, which was supposedly his problem in the first place. 

GV27, true, the mountain lair thing more of a joke, and a 'history never repeats moment'.
Given there are quick tests, the long table is also comical.
But yes the mess is very serious and he is not playing around.

It seems to be like the Iranian hostage rescue, its a brilliant plan till 'one' thing goes wrong.
Russia did do something similar in Afghanistan, when it flew in and 'removed' the leadership.

Putin seems to be all about power. 
The world is inevitably the natural plaything of Autocrats. Corruption is universal.
Logical extension Steve Bannon ideology ?

Maybe he can't understand that with at least 10X the force arraigned against them.
That the Ukraine military may not stand down and look forward to taking over leadership under him.
A skimming bit of this and a bit of that on the side for extra income.
Maybe his generals can't understand either in planning.

True there is still the full fearsome weight of the forces to come, and logistics problems may not last.

Time weighs on both sides.

rugrat:

Russia moving in thermobaric weapons. They suck the air out of everything including people.

 

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/world/462397/russia-ukraine-war-what-are-thermobaric-weapons

CNN reports Belarus may join Russia in the war.