Perhaps driven mad. Either way, at this point, "all or nothing" plops on the table. Except it has been there since the end of the last European war....
I find it hard to believe that if Putin ordered a launch, the military would simply go ahead and launch knowing full well what the consequences would be. The situation is getting ripe for a coup.
Yes it’s been there, but since Stalin met his untimely demise at his dacha with the four closest Politburo guys around him, coincidence //sarc, it has never been in one man’s hand. And that man is insane and perhaps more insane after 2 years of isolation because of ccp vid. He cannot back down. So the question is does the West back down? Because I don’t see a Beria or Malenkov among Putin’s coterie.