Putin is outsmarting us. Adding Ukraine to his empire was always part of the plan to restore Russia’s land holdings to pre-World War II borders. Five or 10 years from now he’ll add another piece of the puzzle.
In the meantime, he’s in no hurry. He gets to use up all his post-war munitions instead of having to destroy it because it’s not reliable. Gets some in-the-field experience for his troops and generals to gain valuable combat experience. And gets to find out how his killing machines need to be improved for better effectiveness.
And he knows that the U.S. will eventually tire of yet another skirmish that we won’t see through as our history proves. We would be better off to give the world notice that if they want our military help, they need to join NATO pronto so that all NATO countries have an obligation to protect each other to the end. Otherwise, we should let them go it alone.
