Putin is going to find himself in the

[Beachnutt]

situation that Gaddafi and Saddam Hussein faced before this is over..
The world is condemning this.

[elleng]

1. As it/we should.

((I suggest everyone use his actual name, no 'cute' diminutives.))

[onlyadream]

2. Could NATO meet

As an emergency and accept Ukrainian?

[regnaD kciN]

4. I doubt it, and they probably wouldn't want to...

Logistically, it would involve sending hundreds of thousands of troops there with a matter of days at the very latest.

Beyond that, it would probably immediately result in Russia invading Poland, the Baltic states, and maybe elsewhere. We literally could be in the middle of a nuclear WWIII within hours.

[cilla4progress]

7. Are you quite sure we aren't already

or on the way?

[qazplm135]

8. we are

but practical reality is he will take the whole country before we could mobilize even we declared war right now.

But yeah, Cold War 2 has started.

[Frasier Balzov]

11. The NATO countries are probably relieved to have avoided that obligation.

Sanctions are more palatable than a shooting war.

[PortTack]

3. He is pretty much alone. Yes, China, but most say China will never commit any military help

A few days ago China said Russia should find a diplomatic solution. Hummm

[regnaD kciN]

5. China can only lose by getting tangled up in this situation...

[RockRaven]

9. China will be happy to buy oil/gas with fewer other prospective customers, and also be glad to

learn any available lessons of how best to proceed, or what to avoid, when doing similar to Taiwan in the near future.

But yeah, they aren't getting directly involved when it comes to any shooting/bombing north of the Black Sea.

[zuul]

14. I'm worried that China will invade Taiwan

while the world is watching that murderous half-pint attack Ukraine. They’ve been threatening Taiwan for years.

[cilla4progress]

6. I hope you are right.

Maybe in the end - but how much destruction along th way?

Also..nukes

[dem4decades]

10. Half of this country isn't condemning Putin, they're condemning Biden.

Okay less than half but does it really matter?

[DFW]

12. I don't think he will

Neither Libya nor Iraq had a million man standing army, nuclear weapons, an Atlantic fleet, a Pacific Fleet, or a country that stretched across eleven different time zones.

The only similarity I see is that if it goes badly for Russia, he risks getting deep-sixed by his own people who have had enough. We are not about to make a martyr out of him. There will be no Putin mausoleum or statues in Red Square, and his face will not be gracing Russian banknotes and postage stamps.

[blue-wave]

13. I have said from the beginning of tensions

that this is a huge mistake for Putin. For many, many reasons.

[AverageOldGuy]

15. My negative, pessimistic comment

Putin will win.

Ukraine will be occupied by Russian troops. Every single elected official in Ukraine, down to the town and village level, will be rounded up, executed or hauled off to the Russian gulag -- why else would we have reports of truck-mounted crematoriums accompanying Russian troops? Russian stooges will be inserted in every governmental position from president down to town councils by rigged elections.

And what will we do to stop it? Sanctions.

Piss on sanctions.

Does no one remember Russia in WW II -- when Germany invaded, entire Russian cities existed by eating horses, dogs, and rats -- and they turned the Germans around. Russia is accustomed to hardship. And -- the Russian leadership gives not a rat's ass about the people - Putin and his oligarch friends will continue to prosper while the rest of the nation starves . . . and in the end, Ukraine will be forgotten. Read about the siege of Leningrad -- and remember -- Putin was a child in Leningrad.

I'm a lifelong Democrat, voted for and supported Biden. But he has failed.

We should have declared a no-fly zone over Ukraine and enforced it with US aircraft from carriers in the region as well as with USAF fighters launching from Western Europe, refueling enroute. cruise missiles from US cruisers, submarines, and destroyers should right now be destroying Russian force concentrations in and around Ukraine.

Putin has a single goal: To restore the Russian empire to its position pre-1991. He will not be deterred. Our goal? I don't know . . . have never heard anyone state a US or NATO objective.

[Voltaire2]

17. A direct military confrontation between global

nuclear powers is a terrible idea.

[Voltaire2]

16. Russia will occupy and annex a large

chunk of eastern Ukraine. That will be the end of this round of the crisis. After a lot of bluster and hand wringing the rest of the world will accept the reality of the situation and return to whatever we are calling normal these days.