Mad Dogs and...

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Putin's Lair and the mad dog himself...

 

An anecdote from Vladimir Putin's youth [quoted in the FT Weekend Feb 26/27] about a huge rat he had cornered, going on the offensive itself, cemented in his mind a life lesson he keeps to this day - "Everyone should keep this in mind. You should never drive anyone into a corner".

It seems that he has not heeded his own youthful advice in the case of his invasion of Ukraine. He has indeed backed Ukraine into a corner, and they have gone on the offensive, rather than turning up their toes as Putin must have expected. His blitzkrieg has failed to take the immediate grip on the country he imagined, meeting fierce resistance from the Ukrainian military and its citizenry.

Even though the border talks between the two sides have broken down without agreement today, the financial and political pressure being heaped on Russia is starting to tell, with the rouble tanking against all the major world currencies, and Russian billionaires starting to speak out against the war.

Putin continues to put out his strong man front and describe the rest of the world as the aggressor in this conflict: something that simply isn't washing within Russia itself. The Russian public don't have the stomach for a false, pointless and ultimately futile war against a sovereign country that now looks as if it could be joining the EU, and - hopefully - NATO. Putin is a wounded dog, and so still dangerous, but his time is running out: 'his' people will soon bite back as sanctions and economic privations kick in. If he opts for the nuclear gambit, there won't be a lot left on either side: surely the mad dog isn't completely insane?

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