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

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.

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.

I pray and hope that this doesn’t go beyond Ukraine and Russia. We are living in a fragile world, the man needs to be found and punished soon..

Alas, I think it will go on and involve other countries, heading into WW3. If Putin gets to control the Ukraine it will give him control of the Black sea into the Mediterrean Sea.
God Forbid this happening, but this man wants getting rid of.

MaizieD I totally agree, but the fact that this is happening is in itself a sign that Putin has got it badly wrong and that the military command line itself is unsure.

There will be squaddies, operating the distant guns, and they cannot help but know what is happening down the line, that they are not moving forward as they were told they were, that the locals are not greeting them as saviours.

The size and number of anti-war protests in Russia, despite everything Putin is doing to crackdown, are showing how little support there is, even internally, for this war.

M0nica

Yes, there are numerous reports of demoralised soldiers on the battlefield. Some making their own vehicles unusable and there have been propaganda footage of tearful captured Russian squaddies ringing home saying that they have been deceived about what they were doing.

I think that these tend to be the 'cannon fodder'; the ones in the convoys who will be in closer contact with Ukranians than those with the long range artillery who are actually shelling civilian areas and people desperately trying to flee to a place of safety. They don't see their victims.

I suspect that the vast convoys might always have been viewed as expendable. An attempt to overawe the Ukranians into surrendering quickly, but once that failed they've been left to sink or swim; short of rations, fuel and weaponry and in old and poorly maintained vehicles. Reports seem to indicate that once they do overrun a town they are at something of a loss as to what to do next and are reluctant to engage militarily with the inhabitants.

Yes, there are numerous reports of demoralised soldiers on the battlefield. Some making their own vehicles unusable and there have been propaganda footage of tearful captured Russian squaddies ringing home saying that they have been deceived about what they were doing.

There is no 'red button'. Putin can issue the order to launch a nuclear strike but it is carried out by other people and there is no guarantee that they would obey the order.

www.reuters.com/world/europe/what-is-chain-command-potential-russian-nuclear-strikes-2022-03-02//

Some of the information supposedly coming from Russia casts doubt on the resolve of those lower down the chain of command. (See the 'articles' thread that Baggs started)

The issue is going to be paying for anything he wants to buy though nanna8, by all accounts the economic sanctions are already biting in Russia, and if there is a ban on oil being exported the economy there is going to nosedive. Millions will be unemployed because manufacturing will be stopped with no markets. I don’t think China will support him without payment.

I think he will get supplies from China though. They have most things. If there is a port blockade he might be in trouble, maybe that is the way to go ?

I think that the other issue that Putin has is that he has lied to the Russian people by not calling it a war. So he can’t therefore have a general call up and recruit more soldiers, so he limited by the boots on the ground, which means that he would find it impossible to control Ukraine. He will never succeed this way.

The wests sanctions will affect the Russian economy, so month on month the effect will get worse. It is difficult to gauge the level,of dissidence in Russia, but we all know that a weak economy will make for a dissatisfied population.
Putin will need to pour huge amounts into the military so the rouble will be very stretched.

One thing for sure, the west must at the very least ensure food gets to Ukraine - that is the very least we should do if the decision is made not to go in militarily.

I am not convinced that a Putin is a psychopath.

He is simply behaving as all dictators behave, and following his own version of truth.

He is or was convinced from the way Europe has behaved that it is weak, so in his view sanctions were no threat.

He is or was convinced that Biden is too old and weak, by looking in particular the Afghan withdrawal.

He is convinced after the way his military performed in Syria that it will perform well in Ukraine. However, there appears to be a very high level of breakdown, and poor logistical planning, if the stuck convoy, and ukraine resistance is an example.

One wonders if the military has been underfunded or indeed the funding has been syphoned off?

The problem is that this level of incompetence will only encourage him to take even more drastic action, and the question is,- at what stage does the west say “enough” or indeed if at all.

Putin like Hitler will never stop, because like all dictators they are convinced of their world view. Nothing his generals tell him will alter his version of the truth, so he will never stop, until he is stopped.

We need to understand that.

Yes of course, Harold Shipman, but it was clear who I meant

He was.

But is he intelligent?

I can only go on what I have read and other people's assessments of Putin over the last 20 or 30 years. He has been in the news since before the the fall of the USSR and has always been described as a cold, calculating and ruthless man, even by Russian standards.

You only have to google his name to find him described as a psycopath by sources, both reliable and less reliable. It is a word constantly associated with descriptions of his character.

M0nica

Just because Putin has a family, does not necessarily mean he loves them or cares for them, merely controls them and that they do as he says.

Remember Dr Graham Shipman? Did you get the feeling he loved and cared for his family or that he controlled them, espcially his wife? Someon with a criminally psycopathic personality does not understand love.

Harold Shipman?

His wife Primrose was young, naive and apparently not too bright when she married him (she was pregnant). She probably was controlled but saw a different side to him as she had been brainwashed.
The Russian people, not having access to a range of news media and being fed false propaganda for years, may believe Putin is saving them, a type of brainwashing.

Anyone who questions the official line may well disappear as is usual in presidential totalitarianism.

I wonder what the many Russians living in the Ukraine are thinking and what their position is ? It must be very hard for them just now with a leader like Putin. Are they being rounded up as aliens ?

I don't know what is wrong with him, or whether he is addicted to something, but I think it is somehow different from before and it seems to be progressing. He was bad before, but he has now changed to become far more aggressive, but not necessarily mad.

You’re making more assumptions than I’m comfortable with Monica. He’s an evil man, I don’t understand his motivations at all, but is he actually a psychopath - how do you know, and how can you know what he feels about his family - nothing is that black and white surely?

volver

I hope you're sitting down Callistemon. I agree with you.

?
Well, sit down please
I sometimes agreed with you

Just because Putin has a family, does not necessarily mean he loves them or cares for them, merely controls them and that they do as he says.

Remember Dr Graham Shipman? Did you get the feeling he loved and cared for his family or that he controlled them, espcially his wife? Someon with a criminally psycopathic personality does not understand love.

I hope you're sitting down Callistemon. I agree with you.

halfpint1

The Dr John Campbell discussion is chilling.The Ukranian
invasion is not going to plan, he is unlikely to back down.
He has a dream of reinventing the USSR and remaining as
the leader. He has no sucession plan as no one can now
guarantee his safety if he were not leader so he will not
stop.
It would seem the worse it gets for him the worse it will get
for us all

What does he know in all honesty?
Really - he is going beyond his remit.

I would rather listen to Admiral Sir Tony Radakin, Chief of Defence Staff.

Monica I have steered clear of watching the misery unfolding but decided to follow the link given here by Karmalady. After listening to that, yes I did feel pessimistic and hope I'm wrong
but he is putting himself into a corner with his decisions.
I certainly hope and pray he will negotiate