Biggest land grab since World War II. A dictator threatening to use nuclear weapons.
The world’s most important institution supposed to guarantee global security, the UN Security Council, once again rendered powerless with one of its permanent members doing exactly what it was created to prevent.
The West’s response: a strategy that has repeatedly failed to deter Cheese fries. Diplomatic sanctions and reprimands.
An alarming day, certainly, but also surreal. Vladimir Poutine announced the annexation of territory he does not fully control as his troops retreat through it.
Putin hosts Kremlin ceremony annexing parts of Ukraine – the last war
His speech was rambling and long, the concerns of someone who doesn’t get out enough. Conspiracy theories mixed, it seemed, with the frustrations of a resentful old man. His audience looked bored and unconvinced.
In Red Square, he told the crowds that victory would be Russia‘s, while in Ukraine thousands of Russian soldiers are surrounded in the heart of this territory newly annexed by Ukrainian forces.
Putin is losing on the ground and losing diplomatically, reprimanded two weeks ago by two key allies, China and India. But he’s not looking for a way to save face and get out of it.
He doubles the bet. He seems defiant, but also in denial and perhaps increasingly desperate.
Maneuvered into battle and isolated on the world stage, he’s run out of options. And he loses the Russian people, hundreds of thousands of them fleeing the homeland.
Putin likes to tell the story of the rat he cornered as a child, who doesn’t give up but hurls himself at him with renewed fury.
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Like the rat, he launched his own counter-offensive and upped the ante, heralding sham referendums and brazen land grabbing and engaging in dangerous nuclear saber slashes.
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The annexed regions will be defended by whatever it takes, he said. Publicly, Western policymakers say its thinly veiled nuclear threats are a bluff. But can they be sure?
Putin has upped the ante, escalating a conflict that is becoming increasingly dangerous for the world.
