No, of Putin pushing the button. The big red jolly candy-like button that says incinerate. The West cannot anticipate what this unstable asshole is going to do if he is pushed too far. And nuclear war is so NOT worth it.
And incinerate what? His own backyard? You know Ukraine is right next door to Russia right?? Or is Putin thinking of launching a nuclear missile to land in the United States? Like what the US did to Japan in WWII? That is EXACTLY what Putin wants you to believe. The more you believe in it, the more you will lose and that is exactly how Putin is winning the war. This is the war of dare and calling the bluffs. The more you dare the opponent and call his bluff, the more you win. The one who chickens out loses.
I see the offer made by Ukraine quite differently. A neutral Ukraine free from external Russian interference would be, were it implementable, a reasonable way out*. But how would Ukraine be guaranteed security? Russia can't be trusted so long as Putin, or any other Russian autocrat, is in power. Ukraine can not agree to disarm without a guarantee of security from the West, and that is not forthcoming. Russia will insist on a disarmed Ukraine -- an impossibility under the circumstances. And then there is the detail of what happens in Crimea and the Donbass region. Nevertheless the heart of the Ukraine proposal, a neutral Ukraine, is a reasonable and, by itself, thoroughly practical offer. Had Putin been earlier surrounded by level headed independent thinkers they might have been capable of talking him into acceptance of Ukraine as a neutral, independent State. Still it's doubtful, because an independent Ukraine requires independence from Russia. Now, fate has taken a hand. Putin appears incapable of believing in Ukraine as anything other than an integral part of mother Russia; thus to him a post 2014 modern independent State is unthinkable. This "oneness" of Russia and Ukraine is so ingrained, he is blind to what Ukrainians and much of the World see. The only exit visible to him now is through the bizarrely illogical laying waste to Ukraine and, as a consequence, to the Russian Army. The alternative to such amoral devastation must come from the Russian people themselves. Sadly, Putin may have already locked the exit door.. If so, than Ukraine is fucked, Putin is fucked, the Russian Army is fucked, and the Russian people, too, are fucked. Oh, Ukraine and the Russian People will survive, but they will still be fucked. Putin, however, is unlikely to survive in any way other than in the nightmares of our collective memories. Putin is not just fucked, he's finished, not necessarily in the literal sense, but most certainly in the figurative one. _________________ *If you had the time to view U. Chicago's, political scientist Mearsheimer's, 2015, detailed You Tube presentation that I posted in its own thread, you will recognize that had a Neutral Ukraine been established back in 2014, the current war might have been prevented. I have my doubts however. From what I have written above, I don't believe the real issue is as simple as the threat of one more NATO nation on Russia's border being the straw that broke the camels back. From what Putin has written and told us, it is more likely he suffers an ideological myopia. He seems driven to take Ukraine back into the Arms of Mother Russia, or die trying. (Let's hope it is the latter. He wouldn't be the first to die at the hands of a recalcitrant ideology flung into truth's face.)
I thought Ukraine is neutral already. LOL How "neutral" do you want it to be?? Every country is neutral until they are pushed into wars, that's as far as I know.
You cannot have a nuclear war with a country, like Ukraine, that does not have nuclear weapons. Ergo, I was not implying he would nuke Ukraine.
Well technically Ukraine does, just under the receivership of the British and the West, according to what I read somewhere. So that red button is for us? Because the United States and the West are not in this war. We did not invade Russia or any of its allies (China and some Middle East countries who chose to be ungrateful after the United States removed the threat of Iraq for them). You are not supposed to nuke somebody who's not at war with you. If that's the case, why don't we nuke Russia first? The problem is Biden doesn't have the guts to even appear "crazy and unstable". LOL
Well obviously Ukraine is pushed into war, in this case by being invaded upon. Yeah now it's not neutral anyway. It's fighting for its survival. LOL