What if Putin has another, private plan in mind?

I can’t let my mind go there – there’s enough other stuff to worry about. I’ll go with Biden saying “We’ll be ok.” (Or maybe I’ll die in California soon. Who knows?)

I’ve already said he may have a murder-suicide back-up plan.

Maybe thinking about moving to the US and sharing an apartment with Donnie and Melania.

Any of this is pure speculation without the benefit of facts. Not worth the time to play a guessing game.

I’m thinking he’s trying to do massive land grabs to help Russia become more self suffient so he can do like North Korea. I think his plan is to go for full dictatorship. No elections, no federal assembly, and do what he wants with Russia. The fact that his advisors are all right-wing nuts should tell you where he’s leading. They want to go back to the good old Soviet Union days. They probably are the type to have problems even using a flip phone. He probably wants to purify Russia with no outside interference. But I do wonder about his sanity. They said after covid hit he has been more isolated. Its during covid that he came up with this whole thing. It doesn’t help he was former KGB and probably is paranoid as crap and being isolated wouldn’t help that kind of person. It just feeds into the paranoia. That’s why the long table.

Yes, I definately think something is hinky but I’m not sure what it is that feels so off. So nothing wpuld surprise me right now.

Thank you for that nightmare fuel.

He has a plan all right. That is to make himself the richest man on the planet.

Do you really think Putin pulled his pud for a noble and just reason? Oh Puhleeze!
He did it so he could make a fortune on the rubble of the ruble. He knew when was going to advance and he knew the West would apply sanctions. He is in the perfect position to play the market in both directions. Russia’s Sperbank crashed to ½0th of its value overnight. There is no way he did not play that drop.
Only he knows when he will stop the grab so he can make a fortune on the rise.
And you can be sure he will. (If he lives.)

@LuckyGuy, surely you don’t think I was suggesting that Putin’s aims were noble and just? I was suggesting the opposite: that no attempt, no shame or sanction or retaliation or army will stop him if he knows there’s nothing left for him—i.e., if he’s a short-timer. In which case he would want to perpetrate all the destruction he can, getting the last laugh because he knows he won’t be here to suffer from it. That’s the vision I had.

I actually was thinking how does Putin back down now? He can’t. I don’t see any way for him to save face. My neighbor said the exact same thing. He said the only way he sees out is if Putin is assassinated. My mind didn’t go there, but I was thinking maybe if the Russian army puts down their arms, but in the history of history does that ever happen? Putin is only as strong as the people who will follow his orders.

@LuckyGuy That is clever! Same thing Trump and his friends did with covid; playing the markets. Plenty of other people played it too, not just his friends.

There is another way this mess makes Vlad’s nads glad: A major property grab.

Sure, the buildings he destroyed are worthless but the properties in the center of the city will be worth a fortune when rebuilt – using Russian citizens’ blood, sweat, and tears.

Ole’ Putrid is using thermobaric bombs now. That is both a sign of desperation and proof that he will stop at nothing until he is the fattest fat cat in the world. .

This is who he is. He projected and talked about this type of action years and years ago.

I don’t think sanctions will make it stop. He just doesn’t care. His own people are trying to leave the country.
He however has no off ramp now. You can’t barter with his type.

I think he’s always been dangerously crazy, and is more so now, but I don’t have much solid information. A friend and I (both of us life-long armchair military history/wargaming fans) were speculating that this attack has been SO incompetent (signalling that the military is not working closely with him), and the effects negative enough for Russia, that it may be leading to Putin exiting in one way or another.

i.e. as @jLeslie wrote above: “I was thinking maybe if the Russian army puts down their arms, but in the history of history does that ever happen? Putin is only as strong as the people who will follow his orders.”
– Well what tends to happen is the military realizes they’d all like to replace the political leader, so they point some guns his way. It could really be any faction in the Russian power structure capable and willing to do so. And the worse the misadventure Putin gets into, the more people will agree it’s time to replace him. Hence why we were thinking that the military blunder might be part of a move to tip opinions far enough that that happens.

Putin is trying to play something like poker but doesn’t understand that it is an American game, and we know he’s bluffing! No single person can blow up the planet because…. how stupid would that be??

He played chess, setting up from years ago. Not sure if the endgame is going his way though.

I don’t think he has anything wrong except he is completely power hungry and to my knowledge trying to bring back the USSR.

It is troubling that a man with no regard for the value of human life is in control of nuclear weapons. I have been wondering recently whether the west might have the ability to disrupt a nuclear attack through cyber warfare. It is probably unlikely as it would be a very dangerous game to play but I’m sure people have thought about the possibility.

You don’t want to mess with someones nukes. They might launch the ones you didn’t mess up.