I’d argue that Putin couldn’t possibly be stupid enough to start another war... but then again, I made the same argument before he started this one. Seriously, I thought all of Biden’s warnings were just trying to make it so he could claim that his toughness forced Russia to back off. I was gobsmacked at how preposterously foolish Putin was.
Putin spent about 10 months very clearly stating his case, establishing his red line, and asking numerous times for negotiations. We pointedly ignored them all, and kept up with the provocations. We sailed British and American warships less than three miles off of Sevastopol Crimea and claimed we had the permission of Ukraine.
They issued a final ultimatum and request for negotiations on the status of Ukraine. We responded that we would do what we want, and would only talk to them on other topics we deemed worthy... but not Ukraine. The Nazi army was massing to assault the Donbass to grab it for Kiev.
So they got attacked, after Ukraine and NATO aggressively responded to 10 months of warnings.