Yep, too many believe the propaganda unfortunately.
The state of the media doesn't make Johnson boast about being world beating or world leading every time he opens his mouth, even in the most inappropriate circumstances like when he was questioned by the Ukrainian journalist yesterday. He finds it impossible to switch out of bullshit mode.
Given time, your average Russian, when they can no longer afford to live, will turn
I'm not equating the two but there are plenty on our side believing our propaganda too. The Russian people don't support this, the army are turning back, the Ukrainians are winning etc, the Chinese will stop this etc.
Apparently he missed...his flight!:))
That's more or less it but when the time of reckoning comes he will be allies with China, N Korea, India etc and the world will be split in two. Hopefully this will lead to a new Cold War rather than World War Three but given the nature of mankind and historical precedent, I'm not confident.
He will need one if things get so dire for the Russian economy and once the insurgency starts, once he occupies the country.
There has been a conflict going on in eastern Ukraine for 8 years. The majority of the population of the UK and elsewhere are probably unaware of this. The Russian people will be, and they will have been given Putin's slant on it.
Putin will also be very mindful of what happened in Chechnya in 1999 which he effectively oversaw with Yeltsins departure, it was officially packaged by him to the Russian people as a 'counter terrorist operation' (sound familiar?) and the events of that war are well known to cast a dark shadow over him as this was also apparently going to be a swift victory as he told everyone which it wasn't.
Totally agree with that. I just find some opinions that if we can just hold out a bit longer Putin will just pack up and go home, staggeringly naive.
The insurgency will be bloody and costly but he won't care. I guess that links with china and his gas supplies and further negotations with the west will save his economy too. I don't believe he's blundering into this with no end game. I think the end game is a New World Order.
Which, coupled with enormously crippling economic sanctions, will set Russia back decades. With the West apparently militarily impotent, he can delude himself into believing that Russia can be resurgent and that the world order is irrevocably changing, but after decades enjoying improved living standards and softer lifestyles, it’s hard to imagine how Russians will stomach a decade of self-inflicted hardship.
You can hope. But hope is not a strategy.
All those things are true but as others have pointed out, he still has mass support and ultimate authority. Holding out hope that his own people will stop this is going to be futile in the short term. Every sanction imposed on the Russian people can be spun as an attack by the evil west. The average Russian on the street has spent their whole lives hating America and us. They are the ones who put him in power, not the educated. You've seen what has happened over here and in the states.
