To Understand Putin’s Dilemma, Put Yourself In His Shoes

I want to ask each and every one if you a question. And this isn’t a rhetorical question, It’s a serious question that I want you to seriously consider when you read it. OK?

Have you ever, in your life, gotten into a competition. Whether it’s a Jango tournament, a Trivial Pursuit tournament, say a poker tournament, whatever, that you felt you were actually well in position to win? After all, when it came to family and friends, you were the undisputed champion. What’s to lose?

And when you got to the tournament, you got your ass royally kicked. It turned out that there was another whole level out there that you were completely unaware of, and totally unprepared for. And the more you lost, the more you doubled down to prove your superiority. And still got your ass kicked.

Welcome to Vladimir Putin’s world. He has spent 20 years deluding himself into thinking that he was a world class superpower, with nukes, the best trained military in the world, and he didn’t have to take shit from anybody.

It worked for a while. It worked in Georgia, where he used a largely air and artillery war of terror to get what he wanted. And it worked in Syria, where once again he used a largely air and artillery war to instill terror without actually placing his ground troops into much danger. And it also worked in Crimea, although Putin was already aware of how pathetic his troops were that he sent them into Crimea without flags or insignias on their uniforms, the Little Green Men.

But then Putin went into Ukraine, and all of the wheels fell off of the wagon. The Ukrainians were better prepared, more motivated, and had the resources of NATI behind them. Putin lost troops at a level not seen since WWII.  Putin had clearly gotten in over his head, and he responded instinctively.

And just like any of us who have gotten in over your head in a competition you honestly thought you had a legitimate shot at, Putin overreacted. He just kept doubling down to make up his losses, and put himself back on top, where he belonged.

Here’s my point. Don’t pay any attention to either Putin or his Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. We’ve all been there. Putin has claimed that the continued US-BATO support of Ukraine could constitute a provocation that could extend the war byond Ukraine’s borders.

Are you fuckihng kidding me?!? Putin can’t even handle Ukraine within their own borders, and now he wants to bring in the single most powerful military on the planet by extending hostilities into other NATO countries? What does he hope to gain?

And his loyal lap poodle, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov darkly hinted in an interview that nuclear weapons were not off the table if Russia felt their national sovereignty threatened. Again, really? My research show that the Russians don’t trust their President any more than we do. While the President may have access to the nuclear football, it still requires the counter signature of a senior military officer to initiate the launch sequence. And I don’t see many senior russian military officers wanting to turn their country into a nuclear wasteland over Putin’s dream.

You know,when you and I get smoked at a tournament that we thought we had a lock on, we go home and bitch about the rules. And that’s exactly what Putin is going to have to do in the next month or two, only when he does, it’s likely to cost him his presidency. Win-win.