You are assuming that he isn't crazy. I think he is crazy to invade Ukraine. If he's crazy enough to do this; What else is he crazy enough to do? The invasion is imminent. We may wake up to this news.

@barjoe I try to assume as little as possible. He's crazy, yes, but for Russia. I think he sees himself as a Czar. If he only invades the donbass region then he has still invaded so I don't see any advantage for him to stop at that. This is all cold, hard, calculus and business for Putin but he's also crazy.

@rainmanjr He also has a huge nuclear arsenal. Is he that crazy?

@barjoe I'm aware of that and the answer is yes. I think he is. Putin only needs to take out DC and a few other places to knock us out, really, and it looks to me like he and Xi are looking to do just that. Two cities in Japan prove that it's possible to recover fairly quickly from such a bomb so they might not see it as so permanent. Ukraine has the worst nuclear accident on record and Putin still wants that.

@rainmanjr I hope you are wrong about Xi and Putin having an alliance and planting a nuclear struck against the USA.

@barjoe Sure you do, as do I, but the alliance was sealed during The Olympics. The question of nuclear use isn't decided but they have considered that possibility and think they survive. Maybe even come out stronger as they won't need to access our land for several decades, anyway, and get their own new front yards looking nice.

@rainmanjr China fears nuclear war. They basically have resources and manpower that they can't lose a conventional war. In the case of Russia, that is the opposite. I think Xi only wanted to make sure Putin didn't spoil his Olympics. The timeline is almost perfect.

@barjoe Oh, they fear it but think they can survive it. This war might not go nuclear but they would have to prepare for the eventuality.

@rainmanjr I don't think you are correct on this one.