Something has happened with Putin. One reads now, "Oh, we should have expected this," after Georgia, his statement to Condaleeza Rice that "Ukraine is ours," his poor relationship with Obama. No. It wasn't too long ago that Putin called Bush43 when the latter was in the hospital. Putin is throwing that relationship AWAY. He is throwing all of his relationships with Western leaders away. Merkel, kicked out of the G8, kicked away from NATO. Hell, even people in his own government. Wouldn't take Lavrov's call; didn't involve the Foreign Ministry in the decision to invade Crimea. He and his circle of Rasputins made the call on Crimea. Merkel said "He's not in touch with reality." He's not. No, this is an abrupt change in Putin. Something happened to him. Divorce? Snowden? A psychic blow? Something physical? Something has gone on that has caused him to throw away all of his relationships with the West. And it is something that has been sudden. He has isolated himself and the world has isolated him. When a person isolates himself, especially suddenly, that is a bad sign. It is not psychologically healthy. "It's like he's in another world," Merkel also said.
This is just an idiot blogger free-associating. I have no evidence for any of this. No one does that has been made public. This is not brilliant strategy by Putin as Kissinger said early on. This is transparent, ham-handed Soviet-style, Alice-in-Wonderland madness. These bits of disjointed information point, in my mind, to some acute psychic event. When the history of this is written I believe we will learn what it is and it's not going to be pent-up grievances; it's going to be something acute and personal to Vladimir Putin.
There is no going back. With or without a Russian re-invasion of Ukraine, there is no going back for Putin. And if he invades Ukraine again he will be a world pariah. Sanctions can be devastating. We are much more sophisticated with sanctions now. We can maximize pain on Russia and minimize pain to us and the West. We have crippled North Korea and Iran. Even if he doesn't invade, there will be no going back. The West will never trust him again. He has thrown it all away and I do not believe it is rational. I don't think Putin is all there.
This is just an idiot blogger free-associating. I have no evidence for any of this. No one does that has been made public. This is not brilliant strategy by Putin as Kissinger said early on. This is transparent, ham-handed Soviet-style, Alice-in-Wonderland madness. These bits of disjointed information point, in my mind, to some acute psychic event. When the history of this is written I believe we will learn what it is and it's not going to be pent-up grievances; it's going to be something acute and personal to Vladimir Putin.
There is no going back. With or without a Russian re-invasion of Ukraine, there is no going back for Putin. And if he invades Ukraine again he will be a world pariah. Sanctions can be devastating. We are much more sophisticated with sanctions now. We can maximize pain on Russia and minimize pain to us and the West. We have crippled North Korea and Iran. Even if he doesn't invade, there will be no going back. The West will never trust him again. He has thrown it all away and I do not believe it is rational. I don't think Putin is all there.
