Quote Originally Posted by Seamus Fermanagh View Post
That's my read on it too, broadly. However, I suspect Putin and company are smart enough to realize that propaganda only works for so long.
Giving the swing of the propaganda and the money he is pumping into it I would say that it shows no sign of abating or even slackening. Sometimes it is so ridiculous that I can hardly believe that people buy it. For example, at a talk show broadcast on Russian TV (in the primetime on Sunday too) a man who claimed to have witnessed it personally said that elementary school teachers in Zaporizhya said to second-graders that they must feed finches during the winter cold since their color is blue and yellow, the colors of the Ukrainian flag, while the kids should not feed and even shoo away bull finches as their color suggest they are Russian birds.
And people at the talk show (and not only there) considered it a credible story!
Quote Originally Posted by Philipvs Vallindervs Calicvla View Post

My reading of the situation is that he will commit Russian troops to "defend the people of Novarossoia" (sic). I base this conclusion on the fact that it's a viable option but not the one that looks logical from a Western perspective, so taking it follows Putin's established pattern.
And if he does, what do you think the West would do? Cut Russia off from Swift?