Suddenly, it becomes clear. Putin's war in Ukraine shows how great damage Putin has done to the Russian state. I would argue that Putin has made Russia fail as a state. That will have major consequences.
Putin's most obvious failure is that he is about to be beaten militarily by Ukraine. Russia is not even a regional power. Ukraine has taken out 50 out of 120 battalion tactical groups allocated to Ukraine & Russia has a total of only 170. Ukraine is on the verge to defeat Russia.
This Putin failure is becoming all the more serious, because he has formed a state, a Sparta, that is only living for wars, unable to comply with any treaties or international law.
Nor is Putin able to govern. He has formed an authoritarian kleptocracy, in which only the stealing to the benefit of a narrow elite goes well. Without any democracy, he does nothing for Russia's citizens, delivering no democracy or rule of law, only repression.
Putin is spectacularly disinterested in the development of the Russian economy, which has not grown since 2014, leading to social misery.
Putin's only escape is lies and propaganda, recreating Orwell's 1984. He has created a shallow ideology of Putinism, essentially Russia is great and has two beat everybody else with force. Mussolini's fascism seems profound by comparison.
What should the West do about this dangerous disaster? Threat Putin and his Russia as Hitler's Germany from 1941: Don't talk to him, just threaten and beat him. Deadenders such as Putin are not rational but fanatical and desperate. Biden understands him right.
After Putin has destroyed the Russian military forces, his only remaining argument is that he has nukes. But so does the West. The West simply need to tell Putin that if you use nukes, so will we, and you will be dead in the water. Such arguments work on Putin.
The Western aim must be to follow the wise words of President Biden: "For God's sake, this man cannot remain in power." This must be the aim of Western policy. The question is how much we should engage to achieve this goal that is so desirable for world peace.
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