Is Putin Cracking? The Russian President Acting More Erratic

Putin gave a weird performance Aug 27 at a Minsk press conference- (also see 9:10 min). Putin rocks back and forth the whole time, looks really stressed, extremely sad- almost about to cry, looks down + takes huge breaths to steady himself 3 or 4 times, shudders 2-3 times. Is the Little Big Man losing it? In the video of his Minsk speech to the leaders (about trade loses Russia would suffer, nothing on the WAR), every leader was glaring at him in icy hateful disbelief, Poroshenko with looks that could kill- Putin looked nervous and ill at ease. He is under enormous pressure now from all sides, having awakened the dragon of Russian nationalism + extremism, which he carefully suppressed for 14 years in the Nat. Bolsheviks, being hectored by every foreign leader, oligarchs grumbling about destruction of their fortunes + economy, world closing to Russians, losing Ukraine forever, ensuring his overthrow in 4-5 years (see IMPERIAL STRETCH). In one scenario of my WHATS PUTINS GAME article, I had Putin starts a nuclear war as option 3b, almost as a joke, but have raised the probability after seeing this video.

And to confirm that, Putin went to a Nashi camp, his own Putin (Hitler) Youth project, (slavish storm troopers to terrorize any critic of his-they once drove the Estonian Ambass. out of Russia) to threaten the West and wave the nuclear sabre:
"Russia's partners... should understand it's best not to mess with us," said Putin. "Thank God, I think no one is thinking of unleashing a large-scale conflict with Russia. I want to remind you that Russia is one of the leading nuclear powers."

This is incredibly contemptible and pitiful, like a pimp getting approval from his own stable of girls- that's how isolated he has become and low he has sunk. Before he always kept them at an arms distance, so he could have some deniability of their crimes. Nashi, which means "ours" is apparently "mine" to Putin, all he can count on now are his robotically indoctrinated "children". I wrote about them for a little paper when I was there last, after I got trapped in a creepy Red Square Victory Day celebration that was ALL PUTIN YOUTH; like Invasion of the Body Snatchers- expected them to recognize I was not one of them, point, open mouths, scream, and chase me.

Another serious danger is Ukraine openly aspiring to be NATO (Rasmussen seemed to encourage it)- first if the wimps in the West aren't forking over every weapons system in the warehouse now, don't expect them to let Ukraine in in the middle of a war. NATO is a deterrent organization- it's supposed to prevent an invasion, not stop an ongoing one- that takes 1-2 years of equipment upgrades, training and exercises. The danger is that I've long thought joining NATO is Putin's Red Line- that he would fully occupy Ukraine rather than allow NATO to subsume his "little (abused) brother" and actually share a long border with Russia. America would react the same way if Canada had suddenly decided to join the Warsaw Pact. It's simply too late now.

If Putin is really unstable, public advocation of Ukraine joining NATO is just what the doctor didn't order. Get military hardware, equipment, training, yes sure, from anywhere, from anyone. But right now, in the middle of a war, don't agitate for joining NATO, something they NEVER will do, but it would fuel every paranoid Putin fantasy about long term Western game plans and conspiracies in his KGB-corroded head. He really does believe that the Maidan Protests were entirely a creation of America. On Tues Putin declared NATO a threat as they prepared to meet Friday in Wales, and Obama went to Estonia to show the flag for NATO, even as he lets Ukraine twist in the wind. If Russian generals are really threatening Kyiv with nukes (which I don't believe, and reckless of Ukrs to claim if untrue), that shows how out of control they are. And how dangerous the situation. Though Russia alarming success on the battlefield (doubling their territory in a week) may soothe Putin somewhat.

In a few brief days, Putin's relentless escalation and his questionable mental state have amplified Ukraine's tortured trials into a first class Cold War superpower emergency- the great danger is that without even realizing that we are here, we could stumble into the nuclear apocalypse that has been so patiently waiting for man.

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