I bet quite a few "CIA Veterans" said the same thing about Castro. How many US Presidents did he outlive? Like 10? I think it's a safe bet Putin's not leaving the Kremlin until they carry him out on a slab. Maybe the cancer will get him, but other than that... I doubt his days are numbered.
This guy is a well known Kremlin apologist, e.g.: https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blo...of-echoing-russian-disinformation-on-ukraine/ In the end it has nothing to do with NATO regardless. You do know what Russia has basically withdrawn all its ground troops on the border to NATO (including Finland) to fight in Ukraine, right? If Putin & co were worried about NATO in any way, don't you think they would keep troops stationed there? One example in case you're not familiar: https://yle.fi/a/3-12523695 Putin is as the evidence suggests therefore not afraid of NATO, he is just afraid of a declining Russian empire. He is willing to kill millions so that he can look at a bigger blob on the map in his office. And the narrative you are spreading is supporting that. That it's countries' that want to exist fault (basically everyone currently in and considering to join NATO) for Russian aggression.
and yet, I don't remember NATO being a thing in Putin's "blood and soil" Ukraine invasion justification speech, though it's been a while but I certainly don't remember it being a "major grievance" https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/23/world/europe/putin-speech-russia-ukraine.html
Ricter, a Paul Krugman apologist gets slammed hard. Cuba 'on verge of total collapse' as country hit by blackouts and runs out of food and power
I have said from the outset of this war that it will be impossible for Russia to win this war for the same reason that the U.S. could not win in Vietnam. This has nothing to do with military force. Nothing has changed my mind in this regard. But of course Ukraine could just give up resisting Putin, just as North Vietnam could have given up fighting the Americans. That didn't happen, and neither will the Ukrainians give up. They don't need U.S. help to win, but U.S. help would make their victory easier. I'm not sure they need the Western Europeans Help to win either, but again, it sure helps. Since the outcome of the war is already settled, NATO, including the United States, should just go all in with all the assistance Ukraine can use and get it over with, saving many Ukrainian and Russian lives. in the process, .
Oddly, wasn't it just the opposite? NATO didn't expand until Putin invaded. Unless you mean the Baltic states and Poland joining NATO caused the invasion --- the excuse often cited. But Ukraine was already in the Russian Orbit when those other States joined NATO. It seems it was Ukraine that decided it no longer wanted to be a Russian Lap Dog. So they kicked out Viktor Yanukovych, the guy whose election victory was engineered by Paul Manafort with help from a Russian disinformation operation. Now Manafort, Trump's "unpaid" political consultant, is coming back to engineer Trump's 2024 election campaign, with, of course, help from yet another Russian disinformation operation. It seems Manafort's not paying taxes on yet another "unpayment" got him into trouble with the IRS. Why didn't Manafort just escape to Russia with Konstantin Kilimnik, his Russian Intelligence business partner, from where he would not be extradited and could have retired to a happy life in a little Dacha hunting wild mushrooms, drinking potato vodka, reading Russian Poetry, and playing the Balalaika?