> But just like with Stanislav Petrov it's often people down the line who, when faced with the actual consequences of their actions, choose to do the right thing.
Reassuringly it does seem to be something of a Stanislav Petrov war, doesn't it. Russian soldiers pretty routinely abandoning their vehicles, seemingly even sabotaging them.
But this doesn't apply to Putin. It's important to understand that he does not have a functioning conscience, and he's very comfortable with cruelty.
Fascinating article, thank you. What it also says, is that he may be emotional, but he isn't a madman. So wouldn't the question then be: How likely does Putin think a nuke on Ukraine would trigger a NATO response. Since he must know, a nuclear exchange with NATO would mark his end. What do you think?
He's a psychopath. When he is cornered he will do whatever works for him. Because that is all he can do.
The thing that might temper this is, I think, is that he does have children. Psychopaths aren't capable of true emotional love, but they do look after their things.
It is said (albeit largely in tabloids) that the outcome he fears the most is dying like Gaddafi. He was quite preoccupied by Gaddafi's death at the time:
Maybe he'll commit suicide. Psychopaths do commit suicide. Harold Shipman did, Fred West did, Jeffrey Epstein did (sorry everyone; suicide is the logical explanation).
But they also commit murder-suicide.
This is a guy who has had people pushed out of windows, poisoned, a guy who almost certainly ordered the faking of apartment block bombings as a pretext to invade Chechnya. He's comfortable with cruelty; he has no conscience.
I think it is interesting he is becoming more emotional. He is very narcissistic, but he's always had control over it, appearing showy but gentlemanly and urbane. Perhaps he is losing that control.
Personally I think it's going to be bad. As soon as he believes there is no chance he'll avoid a traitor's death.
I don't know how bad, but I still think there's a good chance he will find a tactical way to demonstrate his willingness to use nuclear weapons.
Fiona Hill -- absolutely the smartest person in the room on this topic in a generation -- thinks he absolutely would:
https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2022/02/28/world-war-...
> But just like with Stanislav Petrov it's often people down the line who, when faced with the actual consequences of their actions, choose to do the right thing.
Reassuringly it does seem to be something of a Stanislav Petrov war, doesn't it. Russian soldiers pretty routinely abandoning their vehicles, seemingly even sabotaging them.
But this doesn't apply to Putin. It's important to understand that he does not have a functioning conscience, and he's very comfortable with cruelty.