Anybody else feel sorry for Putin?

I don’t. But I do feel sorry for the thousands of Russians who are dying for something they care (or know) nothing about.

I think Putin is feeling his age and wants to make a lasting name for himself before he croaks.

15,000 Russian troops dead, that or more Ukrainian civilians dead.

Putin’s answer maybe chemical weapons or biological weapons OR NUCLEAR WEAPONS !

Not me. On the contrary, I think he’s both adroit and fearsome in capability beyond our appreciation. I believe he is not allowed the luxury granted us when it comes to mistakes, and that his hand in Ukraine was more or less forced.

I don’t feel sorry for Putin at all. But I do feel sorry that the Russian soldiers don’t know what they are doing.

Evidently many Russians don’t either, a lot of Russian “POWs” who have been freed are refusing to return home. Speaks volumes, I think.

Hell no.

Nope, and no, he won’t go nuclear.

I feel sorry for the ten million people made homeless but how can you feel sorry for Putin who made them homeless?

Even if there was a neurological infliction that has triggered this, I still cannot feel sorry for his actions.
Criminals are always responsible for their actions unless proven insane. Still no sorrow for him.

@HP ”...his hand in Ukraine was more or less forced.”

Putin is an autocrat; there is no one to force his hand other than his own ego. He made his bed, now he can lay in it.

@zenvelo Forget that he’s an autocrat. Thats irrelevant in every respect other than the fact that he can act quickly and without restraint. Consider Putin and the situation of his country. He has lived through the disintegration of his former country, and watched as one by one the states of that country (your former allies) are drawn from your orbit by the siren song of prosperity that is NATO and the EU. You cannot hope to compete in this contest, because your tattered country huge as it is has barely the economic punch of Spain. But if that isn’t bad enough, you are now confronted with a situation which threatens definitively the existence of Russia as a world power—the direct threat of the two key states joining the procession of throwaway Republics defecting to the West. How do you prevent this? Now look at the way things stand presently and ask yourself: has he achieved this goal?

No.
I think that his invasion of Ukraine is just a preliminary tactic to teach his Russian Soldiers how to use these newest weapons,Missile jets etc.

@Inspired_2write that isn’t it. Due to how Biden showed the whole world that he was weak Putin decided to try and bring back the Soviet Union. He’s stupid by using the old Soviet weapons which are no where near great.

That’s the point. Russia is only a world power militarily. And the defection of Ukraine to the West would drop the curtain abruptly on that reality.

@HP But Putin has wiped out 15 years of significant economic growth in one month. Gains made in the last ten years of dealing with the west had Russia as an economic player far greater than anything else in their history.

I don’t feel sorry for bullies that hurt themselves through their own selfishness.

@KRD
In the futures it will be it.
Nobody trusts him even his own people.
Maybe Putin has Covid, since hes not making sense.

@Inspired_2write. That is true.

@zenvelo It isn’t a matter of feeling sorry for Putin. I just believe there is validity to his view that he was being squeezed into a corner. We in the West by far are responsible for driving this matter. Any idiot should understanrd that Russia cannot tolerate the incorporation of a huge geographic region of vital strategic necessity on its Western border to be annexed by us. Russia cannot afford this Ukraine adventure, but the choice is avoid the defection of Ukraine or accept the demise of Russia as a country of consequence. Putin has told us that its worth the risk. And he is willing to wreck Ukraine and further weaken his already creaking economy to prevent NATO encroachment. He has done exactly that, and we should have seen it coming. We fucked up big time by encouraging Ukraine to play tough with the Russians, when any fool must see that the place is of undeniable strategic necessity to Russia and relatively meaningless to us or our fat European allies. Now everyone concerned will pay the price for OUR mismanagement of a situation undeniably under our control.

@KRD Putin is by no means stupid if he can use obsolete junk weapons and raw recruits to wreck Ukraine and keep Western hands off the place. It’s GENIUS.

@HP, But it is well documented and discussed that Ukraine had signifcant hurdles to overcome bfore being accepted into NATO, and the west was not at all rushing to add it. And neither we nor the EU were going to “annex” Ukraine; we were only going to supprot their right to self determinaion.

Putin;s economy was not creaking before a February; there were agreements in place that were generating a lot of cash to support Russia.

Putin has fallen into the “dictator trap” where he has stifled dissent so long tha he cannot get decent intelligence to help his decision making. That is not the West’s fault; that is all on him. The siutaion was not ours to control.

You sound like you were a Trumpist refusing to support Ukraine at all, the people that refused to supply Ukraine with weapons three years ago.

Don’t be a Putin apologist. Poor little autocrat who can’t beat up the smaller country next door. I hope the plutocrats oust him before Easter.

For the love of God, PLEASE look at this realistically. STOP thinking of Putin as some mindless ogre diven by emotions. Ukraine indeed had obstacles to overcome on the road to NATO, including the fact that it is probably the most corrupt country on the continent. But there are certain reasons why the country was clearly and undeniably on the fast track to NATO and EU incorporation. Overpowering its strategic military significance is the relatively recent discovery of enormous natural gas fields beneath the country and directly offshore. Consider this fact in a gas starved Europe with Russia the only (thus far) petro state. Ukraine threatens to eliminate Russia’s sole monopoly on providing the West with that vital gas and its greatest source of revenue. The minute Russian armor crossed the border, Exxon and Shell abandoned their equipment and fled the country along with every other Western investor or entrepreneur. Ukraine lacks both the money and expertise to exploit those reserves. Putin does not.

You just contardicted yourself saying Ukraine was an econmic trheat , but ”... Ukraine lacks both the money and expertise to exploit those reserves. Putin does not.

Poor little genius threatened by freedom loving people!

And Koch Industries are staying put in Russia to help Vlad.

To help themselves!!! Ukraine has the POTENTIAL to be an economic threat. Or rather it HAD the potential. Now its potential is to lead the world in refugees, and spark global thermonuclear war. And Putin is neither poor nor little. He isn’t to be pitied , but it is vital that he be understood and his motives studiously evaluated. And I say again that words like crazy or evil in describing him only blur the lens for figuring him out.

Get it through your fucking thick skull, Ukraine isn’t the one threatening to spark global thermonuclear war, Putin is! I can’t believe you don’t pity Putin but you feel the porgy was cornered by others and we should feel sorry for him.

It is all his own doing, not the Wests. Next thing you will probably blame Hunter Biden.

I feel sorry for the rest of the us forced to watch so many people die while our “world leaders” firmly commit themselves to doing little to prevent further death.