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Well, the Georgian scenario has already turned to rubble. The Russians did make attacks into Georgia outside the disputed territories, but they never tried to take Tbilssi.

I think Putin may well be sincere when he says he wants to negotiate with the Ukranian military, once they have deposed Zelenskiy. The idea being that Ukraine can occupy itself and the Russians go home. I can't see another end game : any mediation between crazy old man Putin and drug-addled nazi Zelenskiy seems like a long shot.

And if the army doesn't stage a coup, then the mounting death toll among Russian troops (no idea about the numbers) is going to damage the Russian social fabric, being blamed on Putin rather than on the Ukranians.

It is rightly acknowledged that people of faith have no monopoly of virtue - Queen Elizabeth II

by eurogreen on Sun Feb 27th, 2022 at 09:44:26 AM EST
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True enough, it's already much worse than Georgia. What made me scoff at the idea of a full scale invasion initially was that the Russians really don't seem to have assembled the numbers to occupy a country the size of Ukraine. So either the talk about a military coup is more than just bluffing, they got even more high on their own supply than the Americans when they attacked Iraq or they are willing to offer terms to the current government.
Hopefully it's the latter:
by generic on Sun Feb 27th, 2022 at 02:46:31 PM EST
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I would guess that he didn't want to commit more troops because he wants to maintain readiness for a NATO military riposte elsewhere (but we all know that he needn't have worried about that)

It is rightly acknowledged that people of faith have no monopoly of virtue - Queen Elizabeth II
by eurogreen on Sun Feb 27th, 2022 at 03:24:58 PM EST
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