Salute CornPops Message said:
GAC06 said:
There's not any evidence that Putin is irrational. He miscalculated but that's not the same thing.
So you agree in his rational reason for attacking Ukraine to free Russian speaking people from Nazi bioweapon creating terrorists????
Putin is absolutely ruthless in his pursuits and barbaric in his methods but that doesn't make him irrational. Not only is he currently a rational actor, he can be relied upon to pursue his vision for Russia and the world.
As other Russian officials have stated, this is about altering the current world order more so than any military objective that could be achieved in Ukraine. It is NOT now and never was about denazification.
One can believe he is acting rationally within his value structure without agreeing with his values.
To bring this discussion back to tactics and strategy; faced with crippling economic sanctions, Putin is likely to start using his remaining economic tools in an attempt to get the West to withdraw support for Ukraine. Then after capturing the Ukrainian costal areas he will seek an off-ramp.
But again, Ukraine isn't his objective, breaking up the EU and NATO are bigger goals and he has done a masterful job exposing Germany's unwillingness to make sacrifices for the good of the alliance. That fissure will not be soon forgotten by Poland or the Baltic states.