Makes you think they're treating Ukraine as an attic. Need to brush up on the history of that era, but gives me hints of how England treated Ireland centuries ago.
It doesn't necessarily have to be staged. Putin has no qualms about killing his own people for political gain. Look up the 1999 apartment bombings that killed over 100 people and injured over 1000 that was likely carried out by the Russian intelligence service.
It's an incredibly dangerous war. Putin has clearly begun skating on the edge of a complete mental breakdown due to the near collapse of his attempt to add Ukraine to his "new empire." His decision to "mobilize" the citizens of his country was an enormous mistake, one which will only add to the mental stress he's under. Like Hitler, he is a little man who found his way to total power in his country and became enamored with a sense of invincibility, the idea that he simply can do no wrong. The lack of a strong response from the West to his grab of Crimea, with Obama doing too little, the foolhardy decisions of Merkle to put Germany's energy supplies in Putin's grasp, with the rest of the EU not raising hell about it to such an extent that it could be prevented, making them all look weak in Putin's eyes. trump mocked Obama for his weak response to Crimea and then did nothing when Putin effectively blocked Ukraine from the Sea of Azov in 2018, which most have likely never heard of, yet it was another major blow to Ukraine. Putin decided that he could get away with anything. We are seeing why he badly wanted Joe Biden to stay out of the White House. Putin rolled the dice anyway. Hubris writ large being a huge understatement when describing Vladimir Putin. At this point in time, he could be capable of any kind of mad action. Those close to him need to act for the good of their country, and adding for the good of the world is not too great an exaggeration, in my opinion.
On the flipside, I suspect the West's rhetoric of Russia's evils will amplify as economic conditions worsen in their respective countries. Elected leaders will need someone to blame for the coming months, and Russia is more than capable as a foil (with China in the shadows). Things can get violent locally if inflation remains sticky and peoples savings continue to drop.
There is no need to "amplify" "Russia's evils." They don't need amplification. Russia isn't needed as a foil. Russia is a clearly a danger to a very large number of countries, our own included.
The United States and the West need to be VERY careful about where Russia goes from here if Putin eventually falls. There is this false idea that it means that Russia will open up and become "better" and the reality is that isn't likely.
