FireAg said:
Gordo14 said:
FireAg said:
It appears Vlad's last remaining threat before using nukes is to launch cruise missiles indiscriminately into civilian areas...
I'm starting to think the odds of WWIII are increasing at the moment...
Vlad can't afford to retreat...
He can't afford to use a nuke far more than he can't afford to retreat. He has control of the propoganda machine, he can manufacture whatever bs he wants. The threat of nuclear weapons is what gives him power against the West - not using them. It won't be WWIII either, if Russia uses nukes they will stand alone against the entire western world.
Stop capitulating to weakness because of blackmail. If we do that now, it will only increase the frequency of nuclear blackmail in the future.
Putin's only possible way out alive is to not use nuclear weapons, that's it.
What happens if Vlad is no longer concerned with coming out of this alive? What happens if Vlad is okay with mutually-assured destruction?
I just don't think Vlad is playing with a full deck anymore, and he may not care what happens in the end...
Hitler thought very much the same way as the Allies were closing in on Berlin...
And it appears that China, India, and probably Iran (at a minimum) would align with Russia...
I think the massive onslaught of cruise missiles into civilian areas this morning is a sign that this thing is taking a turn for the worse...
Why would anybody follow his orders or why would he even be in power at that point. Remember he started this war despite everyone on the planet begging him not to. We cannot reward and appease that behavoir period.
Putin has a family, and he has a country. And he cannot lead alone even if it seems like he does. He is only there because people enable it. They either support it or fear the alternative more. Mutually assured destruction (which is a few steps beyond using a nuke in Ukraine might I add) makes any alternative look a lot better.
India would not go to war for Russia - especially if they participated in a first nuclear strike. India just wants cheap oil to protect their billion+ people from the global economic situation. China is turning their back on Russia - did you see that Xi didn't wish Putin a happy birthday despite two days earlier wishing the president of Tajikistan happy birthday. That was intentional. The whole CSTO is refusing to take part in military drills with Russia because of their invasion and China has pivoted to increase their influence in these central Asian countries. China has already found it's strategic win with Russia's failure. Iran wouldn't go to war in support of Russia nuking Ukraine either.
I think this is a desperate act by someone who is realizing he is incapable of making an effective strike on the Ukrainian military. At the same time, he realizes he has to make a strike or look weak to the people around him. He doesn't have the military industrial capacity to sustain this kind of attack. I don't know if you've been paying attention, but bombing the **** out of civilian targets in cities has been the MO since the first month of the war. This isn't new or even as bad as what Russia was doing to Kharkiv for example. It's just that Russia has lost the military capability to do this on a sustainable basis so it's been a long time since this happened in Kyiv. This is not the time to cater to his needs or you will prove his belief about Western weakness and normalize this behavior forever.
Putin put himself in this situation, it is nobody else's responsibility to find a way out for him. It's funny you bring up Hitler... Because appeasement was a large part of the reason he felt like he could keep doing whatever he wanted. He viewed our lack of resolve to stop him as our weakness and picked Europe apart (hence why NATO exists).
Even discussing the possibility of nuclear strikes from Russia is playing into their hands. A successful bit of propoganda. They know their cleanest way to "victory" is to make the west paranoid that they could us nuclear weapons if they don't get what they want. That's the play. They have deliberately aluded to it multiple times because they want to instill fear and panic in the west. The more people talk about it, the more power you are ceding to a failing dictator. And if it works this time, they will do this from now on to take more and more.
