Anyone think that Putin's war will spread across Europe and beyond?

I refuse to listen to news, stopped buying newspapers etc. Would rather live in ignorance than suffer the news (did same about Covid - but stuck to the rules when told by daughter). You can't live in fear when you get older (and/or are disabled, you have enough to worry about.

Yes. I think that if the west imposes a no fly zone it will precipitate WW3. If it doesn't, Putin will be emboldened take Ukraine and then realise that no one will take him on. Then he will march into Moldova. After that, democracy will be dead.

One of the theories as to why he hasn't been taken out is known as the "dead man's switch" that suggests there is a requirement for him to regularly "check in" on nuclear devices whereby if he is assassinated, it will automatically trigger a catastrophe.
Don't know if that is true, but in addition to the comments about it being difficult to do, this may also be a contributing factor.

My friends in Moldova believe his Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin is even worse than Putin so heaven knows what will happen if Putin is taken down.

These Senior Military Officers are talking with each other, so there may be a little glimmer of hope. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chief_of_the_Defence_Staff_(United_Kingdom)
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chief_of_the_General_Staff_(Russia)

How will history judge us if we allow Putin to annihilate Ukraine? He will just work his way round the other former USSR States using the same appalling tactics.

He may continue mopping up non-NATO countries.

Economically, the war has already begun of course. Should Putin be so foolish as to invade a NATO country, that would require defensive action and lead to war. This is to be feared but the combined forces of NATO far outweigh those of Russia so not the best course of action I should think. Great if Putin was overthrown by whatever means, but looking at the past history of Russia and the USSR, I am not hopeful that this will happen any time soon. Russia has a long and complex history and its people have not always shown the majority to have a particularly western mindset so a popular uprising, unless well and carefully orchestrated could take years. Even Stalin died in office after eliminating most of his rivals! What I fear is an escalation of the war into some non NATO country such as Moldova, a neighbour of Ukraine, where a segment of that country (Transdnistria) is already under Russian control.

I imagine he is deep in a bunker. Yes I think he probably will stop at the Polish birder, having seen the resistance of the Ukrainians I think he will definitely think very hard about taking on NATO in a direct war. However, I do think he might well build a Berlin-type Wall on the Polish border but possibly more of the state that exists between India & Pakistan or North and South Korea, and then reinstate a Cold War

LooLawson
That’s assuming that Turkey allows them to exit through the Bosporus which Turkey control.
Turkey have to tread a very delicate line where Russia are concerned but I would take a bet that Russia would get a bloody nose.

Yes…. he’s following in Hitlers footsteps , while europe and the USA sleeps. Hey Ho!

I don’t think anyone is sleeping saggi, no-one wants WW3.

Given how poorly his forces have performed I don't think so. The big worry is what he will do once he realises that his great army is a bunch of demoralised conscripts. Up to now he has relied on mercenaries and a small group of special forces. His special forces have let him down and he doesn't have enough mercenaries to achieve his objectives. Like the schoolyard bully he will look for other ways to get even.

Money

We do have better communication now than when Hitler etc were in power. We didn’t know about the atrocities in the camps in Germany and Poland until after the war had finished last time, but the whole world knows what’s going on now.

He won’t stop. Moldova is next according to the map behind the Belarusian President when he gave a news conference. Then he will go into Poland Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia , all the Baltic states. Even Finland and Sweden have gone on high alert as they have borders with Russia.

Someone should take him out but apparently his cabinet are terrified of him and they didn’t even know he was invading Ukraine. The man is a madman and I never thought my grandchild would see a war, because that is where we are going

Take down both then!

I’m not very good at this.
That was in answer to Lindylou57 re Putins Prime Minister.

I don’t think it matters one jot about whether fly zones are allowed or not. We’re dealing with a demonised mad man.

Given the wealth of the oligarchs £1M is small change

Just as Von Schauffenberg failed to kill Hitler -I wonder if there have been assasination attempts on Putin .
He has a food taster and has a close coterie of protectors, who are probably terrified of him .

I imagine that if something untoward happens to him then the net will tighten on their families - a terrible way to live .
This war was always on the cards .

There is a rumour that Putin is terminally ill, so he doesn't give a damn if he is risking assassination, he just wants his name to go down in the history books.

I pray our special forces will take him out. If they know where he is that is. He’s in hiding somewhere. I heard he had terminal cancer and thus is his last hurrah so to speak. MI 6. Please find him

Putin has a maniacal plan to put back the old Soviet Socialist Republic - he started with Crimea and is now annihilating the Ukraine. He is eying up Norway and Finland. The madman will not stop. It has been reported that he has terminal cancer - if so, the sooner it kills him the better. There is also apparently a $1 million contract on his life raised by a Russian.
I never advocate killing anyone, but for him I will make an exception - the sooner he is no longer in this world, the better.

I've returned to this thread a couple of times, wondering what to say, if I should say anything. I understand that people want to talk about his stressful situation.

But its turned into a combination of amateur observations on the course of the war and some bizarre speculation on how nuclear deterrence works.

Then the final straw, war is inevitable, we're all doomed.

If anyone is reading this and not commenting, just be aware that nobody knows anything for sure and the real war is not being played out in the front pages of the press.