According to today’s Wall St Journal the Western Europeans told Russian dictator Putin that serious economic sanctions would follow an invasion of Ukraine. You would think that would carry some weight with Putin, but who knows? Putin may not believe the Europeans mean it; he may believe that Russia’s economy is so local and so self sufficient that European and American economic sanctions won’t hurt.
Driving Putin toward invading Ukraine is history; Ukraine has been a central and famous part of Russia since medieval times. Putin undoubtedly wants to own Ukraine for its historic significance to Russia. He may want to invade while he still has an army to do it with. Russia’s birth rate is in a death spiral, and Russia may not be able to recruit a decent army by 2040 for lack of young men to draft
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