Would we now be having a war in the Ukraine, if the West and the world as a whole, had stood up to Putin in Syria ? And if not Syria or the Ukraine then where next ?

But of course the place where winning the war really matters, is in Russia. The Russians have a long tradition for the of disposal on longer useful leaders. It does not involve voting them out of office, its a lot more brutal than that, but it does happen, and no doubt a lot of powerful people are getting very unhappy with Putin now. Who knows what the future may bring ?

Is it a bluff or a gamble? The threat is real enough. The gamble would be whether Ukraine had a chance to stop it.

The issue is whether the other nations would ever be willing to oppose a tyrant with nuclear weapons? Must the West always give in to nuclear blackmail?

The problem is that the West is now facing a tyrant, a psychopath, a malignant narcissist, that can launch nukes. At some point, he has to give up power, but it is entirely foreseeable that Putin would have no qualms about taking the rest of Humanity with him. So, when does that power get transferred, and who does it go to??? The bottom line is that this is as dangerous as it gets. We're back to "On the Beach".