Russia’s conservatives believe Ukraine harbors elite Nazis who are leading NATO’s active attack on Russian sovereignty. It’s not unlike American conservatives believing there’s a caravan of Mexican migrants coming to rape their women and steal their jobs. If A.) Russia loses in Ukraine or B.) the lie falls apart, the people might wake up from their amygdaline stupor just long enough to realize how much Putin has stolen from the people and destroyed their economy and will string him up Mussolini-style.
Resources, land, workforce and, probably, to resurrect the USSR back by conquering most of neighboring countries similar to collecting infinity stones for the Thanos glove.
Far as I have heard, Ukraine was the industrial and agricultural backbone of USSR.
Beyond that, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foundations_of_Geopolitics, notably on Ukraine. They see Ukraine as a key political necessity for resurrecting the power structure that they see as having been lost in the early 90s. Read about UK and US and you’ll see a lot of familiar material there in terms of what Russia has actively worked toward.
Why fear? You can just say oopsie, we didn’t expect the whole Europe and the west to throw their military might behind Ukraine, obviously we can’t fight them all. We did our best! Here are your sons back.
Probably would be fine. Great even. I’m sure people would love their family back in one piece.
Being able to do that without losing face is one possible theory to why he keeps provoking NATO countries even while his three day special military operation is stalling at day 1609 with no end in sight - if they retaliated and joined in properly, he gets an excuse to stop as to not “continue” to WW3.
Yeah, that doesn’t account for his loss in the opening days, when the NATO nations were clearly preparing to write off the conquest of Ukraine as a terrible thing but do nothing substantive about it.
Putin wanted to be cemented in history as bringing back a powerful Russia, and now he has an embarrassment. Dude is 73 and knows he has fewer years ahead than behind and it is now or never for his legacy.
He might not be afraid for his safety or his people, but for his legacy.
Ukraine is resource rich and seen as Russia’s soft underbelly. Kremlin is also insecure that their access to Sevastopol is only on a leased basis. That’s why they took the entire Crimea.
Maybe, but declassified documented conversation during the Blair era showed they knew letting Ukraine into either NATO or EU will agitate Russia, and even questioned if Ukraine is even European. But Ukraine insisted they want to join EU, which Russia predictably did not take well.
Oh, an aside… I just said elsewhere: They’re making Iraq into a Ukraine and putting Amidi in Zelensky’s impossible position. It’s essentially loading the gun, and telling him to put it to his head and pull the trigger, while having another pointed at the base of his skull.
Not sure what you’re talking about. Russia is at net territorial loss and Ukraine is decimating the logistical and oil supply of Russia, which is causing Russia not just military setbacks but also straining the civilian infrastructures. Putin also suspended the auction of bonds which signal that Russia could default. And last but not least, the post already shows that Russia is expanding the recruitment to get more Russians which means manpower is getting bad for Kremlin, for a special operation that should have lasted three days.
Ukraine has far more cards than Iraq has ever had. They are not given a gun to point to themselves, they are not even given any gun to begin with because the West as a collective hesitated to give it all to Ukraine right after the invasion.
Why?? What does Ukraine have that they’d so desperately want that they’d send so much population to die and risk a civil war for it?
Russia’s conservatives believe Ukraine harbors elite Nazis who are leading NATO’s active attack on Russian sovereignty. It’s not unlike American conservatives believing there’s a caravan of Mexican migrants coming to rape their women and steal their jobs. If A.) Russia loses in Ukraine or B.) the lie falls apart, the people might wake up from their amygdaline stupor just long enough to realize how much Putin has stolen from the people and destroyed their economy and will string him up Mussolini-style.
Resources, land, workforce and, probably, to resurrect the USSR back by conquering most of neighboring countries similar to collecting infinity stones for the Thanos glove.
Far as I have heard, Ukraine was the industrial and agricultural backbone of USSR.
Beyond that, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foundations_of_Geopolitics, notably on Ukraine. They see Ukraine as a key political necessity for resurrecting the power structure that they see as having been lost in the early 90s. Read about UK and US and you’ll see a lot of familiar material there in terms of what Russia has actively worked toward.
It’s partially due to Putin’s fear of admitting they can’t win.
Why fear? You can just say oopsie, we didn’t expect the whole Europe and the west to throw their military might behind Ukraine, obviously we can’t fight them all. We did our best! Here are your sons back.
Probably would be fine. Great even. I’m sure people would love their family back in one piece.
Being able to do that without losing face is one possible theory to why he keeps provoking NATO countries even while his three day special military operation is stalling at day 1609 with no end in sight - if they retaliated and joined in properly, he gets an excuse to stop as to not “continue” to WW3.
Yeah, that doesn’t account for his loss in the opening days, when the NATO nations were clearly preparing to write off the conquest of Ukraine as a terrible thing but do nothing substantive about it.
Putin wanted to be cemented in history as bringing back a powerful Russia, and now he has an embarrassment. Dude is 73 and knows he has fewer years ahead than behind and it is now or never for his legacy.
He might not be afraid for his safety or his people, but for his legacy.
Ukraine is resource rich and seen as Russia’s soft underbelly. Kremlin is also insecure that their access to Sevastopol is only on a leased basis. That’s why they took the entire Crimea.
I think putin also wants to reassemble the USSR territories.
That’s unironically why the West cares.
Maybe, but declassified documented conversation during the Blair era showed they knew letting Ukraine into either NATO or EU will agitate Russia, and even questioned if Ukraine is even European. But Ukraine insisted they want to join EU, which Russia predictably did not take well.
Oh, an aside… I just said elsewhere: They’re making Iraq into a Ukraine and putting Amidi in Zelensky’s impossible position. It’s essentially loading the gun, and telling him to put it to his head and pull the trigger, while having another pointed at the base of his skull.
Not sure what you’re talking about. Russia is at net territorial loss and Ukraine is decimating the logistical and oil supply of Russia, which is causing Russia not just military setbacks but also straining the civilian infrastructures. Putin also suspended the auction of bonds which signal that Russia could default. And last but not least, the post already shows that Russia is expanding the recruitment to get more Russians which means manpower is getting bad for Kremlin, for a special operation that should have lasted three days.
Ukraine has far more cards than Iraq has ever had. They are not given a gun to point to themselves, they are not even given any gun to begin with because the West as a collective hesitated to give it all to Ukraine right after the invasion.
Putin has a psychological need to take things that aren’t his. He once walked out of the Guggenheim with one of the exhibits just because he could.