I have my doubts that the Russian army or NATO forces are going to be highly motivated to get themselves killed here ( some will anyways it's a war ). I do think Ukraine itself will be heavily motivated it's easy to hate Putin. Even if they get overwhelmed in short order, it'll be like Iraq was to the US their occupation will be resented and difficult to hold for years. It's the same point I've made on here when Americans throw out the possibility of invading Canada. Pretty useless if the invaded country will never accept your presence especially in large land mass countries. Ironically Hitler's downfall started with trying to invade Russia. I think the end of Putin is inevitable because of this just a matter of how quickly and what the damage is before he's done. Organizations like the IOC that worked with the Russians should be ashamed of themselves.
Nine Ender said-- Ironically Hitler's downfall started with trying to invade Russia. Buy1Sell2 replies-- WRONG. Hitler's downfall began over a year earlier when he decided to help Mussolini and get involved in North Africa
The other dimension of that story that is worth contemplating is that Erwin Rommel, Hitler's superb tank commander in North Africa turned on Hitler for his nutty stuff and participated in a plot to kill Hitler, which did not end well Rommel, but nevertheless was a sign of command problems for Hitler that would eventually not end well for Hitler. Just sayin. Putin likes to give jaundiced history lessons such as in his speech the other day but he might want to watch out for some of the lessons of history himself. Somewhere out there we can only hope that Putin has a rendezvous with a bunker.
Reports are that he has 80 percent of his military tied up in Ukraine. ----I refer folks to my risk management thread----
I would like him better had he heeded the warnings (months ago?) of US intel, and the obvious build up of troops at his borders, rather than signaling to his citizens that "It's OK. We've been here before with Russia." That was a HUGE tactical error.
The resistance has been surprisingly effective and seems to have caught he Russians off guard Maybe downplaying the coming battle was a cover
He was in the loop on intelligence, the signaling was not for his citizens but foreign investors about to bail from Ukraine. They've been prepping for years, there wasn't much that could've been amassed in a few weeks time given the west's ambivalence to provide weapons systems. It was a good hedge in case Putin went home.