Why Putin CANNOT stop until he was won in Ukraine:

[DetlefK]

Essentially, he has stacked his personal reputation on this. He wants to make Russia great again and this was HIS gambit: Conquer Ukraine and turn it into a vassal-state ruled by a puppet.

If the invasion in Ukraine fails, then his political career would be over. (Well, one of his younger cronies would take over and politically absolutely nothing would change in Russia, but Putin himself would be gone.)



And this is what Putin fears: Losing control. Not being in charge anymore.

"Russia cannot survive without me!!!
Only I can make Russia great again!!!
You need me!!!
YOU NEED ME!!!"

And that's why he cannot retreat from Ukraine. He knows that if he fails, his cronies will try to topple and replace him.

[dchill]

1. The problem is, he CANNOT BE ALLOWED to win.

[PortTack]

2. Exactly! Anyone who says he and the orange mass are different..I give you this

[chocolatpi]

4. +1

[intrepidity]

3. Yeah, he really bet the farm on this one.

I am prepared to learn at any moment that he has ordered a nuclear strike of some sort.

He likely will calculate that if he can't recreate the old USSR as his legacy, that at least he'll go down in history another way.

[TheRealNorth]

5. Hopefully, if he goes there...

One of the Russian generals will have a 37 cent solution.

[chocolatpi]

6. I am prepared for Lavrov

or someone else to determine putin is more a liability than a monetary asset.

[dchill]

8. Putin has always governed like someone who expects...

...to be assassinated. So be it.

[localroger]

7. Realistically, he has already lost

I would expect the knives are being sharpened as I write this. And Putin himself knows this, thus the ever more shrill sense of desperation. I am confident that if he orders a nuclear strike it will be the last order he ever gives. And he may know this, too, which would explain why he has only postured but not done it yet.

[tclambert]

9. My crystal ball does not show a quiet retirement to his dacha in the Crimea for Vlad.