This report, in Guardian, seems to demonstrate that Putin is delusional. He clearly believes that Russia is not "interfering in Ukraine"!
21m ago14.57
Russian President Vladimir Putin warned that any countries attempting to interfere in Ukraine would be faced with a swift response from Russia and said all decisions on how Moscow would react in that situation have already been taken.
Addressing lawmakers in St Petersburg, Putin said the West wanted to cut Russia up into different pieces and accused it of pushing Ukraine into conflict with Russia.
This report, in Guardian, seems to demonstrate that Putin is delusional. He clearly believes that Russia is not "interfering in Ukraine"!
21m ago14.57
Russian President Vladimir Putin warned that any countries attempting to interfere in Ukraine would be faced with a swift response from Russia and said all decisions on how Moscow would react in that situation have already been taken.
Addressing lawmakers in St Petersburg, Putin said the West wanted to cut Russia up into different pieces and accused it of pushing Ukraine into conflict with Russia.
Russia cuts off gas to 2 NATO nations in bid to divide West
POKROVSK, Ukraine (AP) — Russia cut off natural gas to NATO members Poland and Bulgaria on Wednesday and threatened to do the same to other countries, using its most essential export in what was seen as a bid to punish and divide the West over its support for Ukraine.www.thestar.com
Russian cutting all gas exports to 2 NATO countries, Poland and Bulgaria
Threatening to cut off more.
I genuinely think Putin is living in his own fantasy land, which frankly is more scary than him just being an unhinged dictator because it means the choices he's making make sense to him, but no one else because he's completely detatched from reality.Attempting to? Sorry Putin hon, have you been watching? You've been cut to pieces by - among other things, the weapons you made that we gave to Ukraine - and if you keep on interfering, we will cut you some more. Think of it as our own little "special operations".
This is so pathetic - they're the ones who crossed over the border in the first place, and now they that got hurt, they are crying momma.
AoD
I genuinely think Putin is living in his own fantasy land, which frankly is more scary than him just being an unhinged dictator because it means the choices he's making make sense to him, but no one else because he's completely detatched from reality.
I'm specifically saying he's not unhinged, not in the traditional sense that he's lost it and is irrational. I'm saying his reality is completely divorced from actual reality, but in his reality he's being rational, if not restrained. That's why he hasn't gone total overkill, because he genuinely believed Russia would be welcomed in Ukraine, he doesn't truly grasp the level at which his army is failing, he doesn't truly see this as a war (yet) and so on.If he is truly unhinged he would have gone apeshit nuclear right off the start - not playing it safe again and again (the numerical overkill, the deliberate choice of decapitation over long war, etc). And if your goal is to compel a certain behaviour from another party, you don't make threats over, and over, and over again - each time you do it the less likely you will get the desired outcome.
AoD
We're reaching the point where the only threat that Russia has left is nuclear. And nuclear weapons alone do not a great power make. Or North Korea and Pakistan would be considered great powers. Their threat to self-immolate through energy export bans is actually more potent than their conventional military threat. And even that has a limited shelf life thanks to urgent efforts to reduce dependency on Russian O&G.
So now they have a problem. They can't win this without a massive escalation with substantial loss of life and almost guaranteeing that the economic warfare will be sustained long after the kinetic war has ended. And any victory they do get will have gains so minimal that people at home will eventually ask if it was worthwhile, but the West will consider to be an expensive cautionary tale on military readiness and economic dependency on a hostile power.
Putin is screwed. We'll just have to keep going till he comes to terms with it.
I'm specifically saying he's not unhinged, not in the traditional sense that he's lost it and is irrational. I'm saying his reality is completely divorced from actual reality, but in his reality he's being rational, if not restrained. That's why he hasn't gone total overkill, because he genuinely believed Russia would be welcomed in Ukraine, he doesn't truly grasp the level at which his army is failing, he doesn't truly see this as a war (yet) and so on.
That's the only framework under which anything he's saying even remotely makes sense.
Absolutely he knows it's not going as well as he would've hoped but I also don't think he realizes just how poorly his army is truly performing.He knows it's not going well. He just doesn't have any good options. Folks who keep arguing that he can mobilize forget the damage that would do to their economy, and the risk of logistical failure to a force already struggling to sustain itself.
You also forget marishkova. They are obsessed with showing strength. And to some extent actually admitting to the reality on the ground would be an admission of weakness. So it won't happen.
Absolutely he knows it's not going as well as he would've hoped but I also don't think he realizes just how poorly his army is truly performing.
You also forget marishkova. They are obsessed with showing strength. And to some extent actually admitting to the reality on the ground would be an admission of weakness. So it won't happen.