If Putin attempts war against a NATO country, e.g. Lithuania, my only hope is that NATO will stand together and respond with forces on the ground. If he escalates to use nuclear weapons, he's a fool and I hope the Russian people will tear him to pieces in the street before he condemns them to death.
> If he escalates to use nuclear weapons, he's a fool
And we're all be dead. Nukes is basically flipping the board; if I can't win, nobody will.
I mean I hope that won't happen, and that Russia's military collapses in on itself as Russia's access to the international (financial) market is pulled. That'll probably take a while though, it's attrition. It might make the Russian people upset enough to be able to enact change, but not while the police and military are still on Putin's side and happy to stop any protests or whatnot.
Yes, one thing about Putin's mafia form of government is that if the godfather is no longer able to keep the money flowing, he will be put to pasture and someone with a cooler head will take his place. It's an unfortunate situation for Russia but even if Putin goes insane and wants to die in a nuclear fire, his system of patronage will follow the logic of greed. And they're going to be very angry about this when they lose their yachts.
I mean, everyone in Europe had doubt that anyone would respond to Hitler before he invaded Poland.
But when he invaded Poland, the world changed on a dime. I don't think there will be any daylight between any western nations now, when it comes to how to deal with Russia. You can't deal with a mad dog by giving it treats.
If there was any doubt before about NATO's mutual obligations, Putin has done away with that. Russia is about to become North Korea until one of Putin's close friends kills him. Which should take about six months.
