[BroJoeK]

KGB Lt.Col. Vladimir Putin, 1980:

delta7: "Not a good idea to keep poking the Bear.
Vlad has shown much restraint, that may change when his citizens start calling for a pound of flesh."

The Duke: "Agreed ... I doubt that Vlad imagines the flag of his enemies as being anything other than red, white and blue."

No doubt what Vlad the Invader wants is to restore the glory days of his youth -- as a KGB Lt.Col. in the Old Soviet Empire -- by igniting Cold War II.
And, of course, one essential element of Cold War I was the ever-present threat of nuclear annihilation.
That's what gave the economically miserable USSR its global significance and reach.

Cold War I ended around 1991 after 45+ years when the Old Soviet Union collapsed -- due to the effects of a 10 yearlong losing war in Afghanistan, and Ronald Reagan & Poppy Bush's policy of Peace Through Strength.

In 2005 Ex-KGB agent Putin said, "The breakup of the Soviet Union was the greatest geopolitical tragedy of the 20th century."

Essential to Russia restoring Old Soviet style global influence and regional hegemony, is a credible threat of nuclear annihilation -- which Putin is working on but has so far failed to make much progress.
For one thing, even Putin's closest friends, like China and India, keep telling him, "don't do it."

So, Putin needs his threat of nuclear war to seem real, but if he ever actually starts throwing his nukes around, it will not end well for Russia as a country, and Russians as a people.

That is Vlad's problem now.
It's one reason why he wants to make the Ukraine war about much more than just a few square miles in the Donbas.

[Windcatcher]

Vladimir’s outlook makes me sad.

I don’t hate him. I think he’s shortsighted, but perhaps that has to do with how I was brought up.

I was baptized Greek Orthodox but raised Roman Catholic. My mother came to the US from Sparta (Greece) in the 50’s. But I went to Catholic school from first grade right through graduating college. I can honestly say that I span two worlds — the Western Church and the Eastern Church.

I revere many people, but possibly the one individual who gives me the most visceral response would be Emperor Constantine, who made Almighty God the sole God of the Empire—both West and East—and cemented Christianity from Britain to the Black Sea. To say that I’m keenly aware that there are two of God’s Churches—West and East—tasked with shepherding us all would be an understatement. I consider both vital.

Vladimir might be concerned with the worst fall of the 20th Century, but for me, the worst overall was the Fall of Constantinople and the Eastern Empire—and its influence over millions of Christians. Christendom has been under constant assault since the seventh century, but 29 May 1453 was perhaps the blackest part of its history and for me the most keenly felt.

When I see Putin talk about the fall of the Soviet Union it saddens me. That’s as far back as he can look? I might have have hoped the leader of the country containing the Russian Orthodox Church would have a longer view of history. I suppose, though, given the history of the Soviet Union, a reverence for God would have been too much to expect. The Soviets did, after all, expend a great deal of effort attacking Him.

Perhaps someday there might be a Russian leader who has a longer view not only of history, but of civilization itself, and the role of God within. Perhaps the Eastern Church, so long quiescent in the world, will become prominent once again on the world stage. Perhaps even the Hagia Sophia will become a Christian church again. But, sadly, today is not that day, and today’s leaders are not those to bring that about.

But times, leaders, and Patriarchs change. And there’s nothing stopping us from demanding something change with them.

[blitz128]

That is a very important quote by putin and the crux of his actions.

He very much lamented the fall of the Soviet Union and the power that it held.

What started as an operation to reclaim some of that power has instead turned into an existential threat not to Russia, though it may well happen as control over eastern federation areas weaken), but to putin himself.

Russians have shown great ability to suffer, but loses on the battlefield are not equally accepted.

Approaching 1 million lost and little to show for it will strain even the “famous” Russian mir.

Nuclear war is the worst outcome, but what is the worst outcome to putin?

In the end hitler said the hell with the German people they had failed HIM.

[The Duke]

"No doubt what Vlad the Invader wants is to restore the glory days of his youth -- as a KGB Lt.Col. in the Old Soviet Empire -- by igniting Cold War II."

Are you a liberal? .. Because you sure are good at mind reading!

As someone who was deeply involved in Cold War analysis, I can assure you that we'd better pray it doesn't come down to nukes every bit as much as Russia.