Can Putin Recover From This?

The EU Commission announced this afternoon that the ...

No.

Only a question how this all ends.

My spouse, who got a degree studying the USSR right before it collapsed is convinced Putin won't last the year....

I don't think he can recover either.

My current guess is, if there is not nuclear war, the Kleptocracy Russia falls and China rises with the Yuan rivaling the Dollar. The new cold war will be Democracy vs Authoritarian. My hope is we can clean house in the western world and purge all the fascist and propagandists undermining our ideals with division and hate.

Fearyfox(Reyn) : Wow. Thanks for sharing that.

interesting read

One thought I had re: his nuclear threat: We're less than a week into full invasion, and he's already rattling the biggest sabre he has. There has (for decades) been talk of how differently Russia would fare on the national stage if not for its arsenal. Pulling out that threat highlights this point. It's terrifying, but it also makes Putin look weak.

potato boyo : We should also note that Turkey, a NATO country, has been fighting Russian troops in Syria for a few years now.

thank you for posting this.

Interesting read, however I'm a bit surprised that the Atlantic ran a piece written by someone who used to write speeches for Dubya. When exactly did that hawkish administration get to be viewed as reasonable and progressive?

potato boyo : I was surprised that he put his nuclear forces on alert too, at a time when no such threat was levelled at Russia.

(((Cajsa))) : the situation in Syria is very weird, if you factor in the fact that ISIS was getting help from the West that was supposed to be fighting it, and getting its ass kicked by Iran.

The Atlantic has changed a lot in the past however many years. It's a real crap shoot what you're going to get.

And since the fracturing of the GOP, when the neocons got labeled RINOs, a lot of left leaning media outlets have embraced their anti-trump rhetoric, regardless of the speaker's history or own motivations.

David Frum is hardly the worst of their hires.

M-Doll0809A : I don't know, maybe when we spent from '16 to '20 with the former president?

(((Cajsa))) : agree

potato boyo : I've noticed that; as long as the columnist is anti-Trump, any past pro-war rhetoric by them is excused.

Fearyfox(Reyn) : that Trump was even worse than Dubya doesn't make Dubya and his people good.

(((Cajsa))) : indeed, I've seen far worse.