Standstill with Ukraine looks bad, and authoritarian regimes can survive almost anything except looking bad.

Responding to a NATO “attack” from Estonia, Putin can pivot to a bigger enemy where of course Russia has to employ universal conscription / nuclear weapons / whatever. The country must unite against this unprovoked western attack, etc, etc.

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hn_submit 8 hours ago | parent [-]

Nuclear weapons are no option. Russia would be wiped off the map before they could push that button.

A single Tomahawk missile could obliterate Moscow which would immediately end the war because Russia is extremely centralized. It's the reason almost 80% of all Russian SAM capability is stationed around the city.

Putin is unpredictable but he's not stupid. You don't become president of Russia by being stupid.

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wiseowise 3 hours ago | parent | next [-]

> A single Tomahawk missile could obliterate Moscow

Do you even know how big Moscow is? And nuclear Tomahawks were discontinued. Even if they weren’t, you’d need dozens to obliterate Moscow.

	▲	hn_submit 2 hours ago \| parent [-]
		The Kremlin isn't that big you know.

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smallstepforman 5 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Putin is extremelly predictable, which allows the western warmongers to do nefarious things knowing very well he’ll assess the long term risks and be very cautious and accept limited damage to prevent a larger conflict. Use your grey matter and think logically instead of parroting propaganda.

	▲	wiseowise 3 hours ago \| parent [-]
		> western warmongers Who attacked Ukraine, again?