I've been trying to get inside Putin's head to work out his endgame, because I couldn't find one that had a positive outcome for Russia. And indeed, there wasn't one. Banging on the table and shouting "It's not fair!" is not a rational negotiating tactic. I was convinced he was going go annex the People's Puppet Republics, but I didn't dare imagine that he would do anything so completely insane, a complete lose/lose.

I've been alarmed to find that my posts look like I'm a NATO hawk : why do I have no empathy with the idea that we need to find a compromise with Putin?

There would have been ample opportunity, over the last twenty years, for Russia to converge economically, socially and politically with Europe. But during all that time, Putin has been consolidating his personal power and imposing his conservative social vision. He had no interest in convergence. And his military adventures have amply justified the defiance of potential European partners in defense matters.

And I am now convinced that since he "lost" Ukraine in 2014, he has been planning and preparing the present intervention.

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