(03-16-2022, 07:23 AM)Lucky2Last Wrote: If you interpret this scenario based on what's Putin has been telling the press for the last several years, it would be obvious that his goal was to destroy Ukraine if he couldn't easily take it. He doesn't want the west to have easy access to Russia. He believes the US is using Ukraine as a tool to contain Russia. I think he would prefer to annex Ukraine but destroying its infrastructure and forcing the West to dump massive amounts of money in a rebuild is a fine alternative for him.

Putin isn't wrong. The straw that broke the camel's back was the increasingly frequent talk of NATO membership. However, this invasion was more beneficial to the west than Ukraine joining NATO in that it exposed Russia's conventional forces as a paper tiger. If they were to ever engage NATO or the U.S., they would be roundly and quickly defeated. Not to mention that a Ukraine rebuilt by the west will be as strong an ally as a NATO member, with conditions which address Ukraine's corruption, hopefully.

Then there's the question of how the Russian public will process this war in the coming years. Putin's oligarchy has laid bare how the corruption has undermined military readiness and personal freedoms. Putin overplayed his hand and now Russia will pay for the next decade. He's always had enemies on every side, but now he's provided impetus for enemies within to eliminate him.

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