agent-maroon said:
Please pardon my ignorance, but is the acquisition of Ukraine an existential necessity for the rus? I don't see that and I can't understand why they're betting all their chips on this particular hand. I understand that this may now be an existential issue for Putin the man, but for the country itself?
Keep thinking that someone high enough is going to see this and take Putin out.
Russia wants parts of Ukraine for many reasons, but it is existential now because Putin and those around him sold this as a "special military operation" with little risk and tons of upside, figuring the Ukrainians would fold quickly and be replaced by a puppet government.
That didn't happen, and the Russian army has suffered catastrophic losses. If they just go home now, they will have lost tens of thousands of men, probably $10-$15 billion in equipment, another few billion in munitions and fuel, and God knows how much damage to their economy for... nothing. That would be a hard pill for Russia to swallow, and the reigning politicians can't really afford that because all of them are basically complicit. It's kind of a sunk cost fallacy where they should cut their losses, but if they cut their losses they still have to answer for them. If they quadruple down, maybe they can get something. They'll definitely be way worse off, but at least they'll have something for their trouble to justify their hundreds of thousands of dead and complete lack of a military.
