If that was his actual motive, then he would have just carried on after invading Georgia during George W. Bush's last term, and annexing Crimea in the middle of Obama's second term. Why did he stop, when he'd already been shown that the west wasn't going to respond in kind? And in this case, if Putin really wanted to do what you claim he wants to do, it would have already happened. He's playing a cat an mouse game, having fun fighting another proxy war with the U.S., and watching her infrastructure crumble, her country taken over by illegals, and her government breaking the economy of the U.S.
Seeing tens of thousand Russians dead and being stopped cold in his advance into Ukraine is a strange way to have fun.
“He’s playing a cat an mouse game, having fun fighting another proxy war with the U.S., and watching her infrastructure crumble, her country taken over by illegals, and her government breaking the economy of the U.S.”
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Good post. Our self-inflicted decline is not lost on Putin, or any of our adversaries for that matter. They perceive weakness and know a window of opportunity when they see it.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/02/climate/ukraine-lithium.html
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/08/10/ukraine-russia-energy-mineral-wealth/
https://www.businesstoday.in/latest/world/story/are-ukraines-vast-natural-resources-a-real-reason-behind-russias-invasion-323894-2022-02-25
Because a guy who owns this:
is just looking to help out the little guy. Not interested in profiting off grabbing the natural resources of other nations. No, not a land grab....