Something in the Air...

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It's hard to get a grip on just what Putin's motivations are, given the wealth that he has access to via the rest of the Russian oligarchy. He seems driven by paranoiac delusions of grandeur and a deep sense of unjustified injustice, taking his 'diplomatic' cues from Hitler's similarly deranged notions. The fact is, he is trying to wage a nineteenth or early twentieth century war in the twenty-first century: unfortunately for him and fortunately for the rest of us, the rules and context are completely different now.

Everything moves just a little bit quicker these days, at least when governments et al. finally get off their butts and start dealing with stuff, as they seem to be doing as we speak: if the current set of sanctions, no-fly zones etc. do their job, Putin's power base will be eroded from all directions: the money men will simply evaporate to their stateless eyries and the citizens of Russia will realize once and for all that their 'leader' is just another tinpot autocrat who they must depose by what ever means possible. Another Russian Revolution? They need one, as does the rest of the world.

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