Russia and Ukraine flashpoint

[Zkuq]

dark_gh0st_b0y said:

Zkuq said:

Well bombing Russian civilians won't warm the Ukrainians either. If anything, they'll just want a fast and a reasonable end to the war, and I doubt a lot of people believe bombing Russian civilians is going to do much to help that. I know I don't. It makes about as much sense as the Russian belief that the Ukrainians will give up if you bomb them and prevent them from getting electricity - which has rarely, if ever, worked.

I understand, but the intention here is not to bomb Russian civillians but make Putin think twice! He knows that leaving Ukrainians without electricity probably won't help him much, but he does it anyway because he has almost nothing to lose. It's the same with going nuclear, he has been warned so he didn't use it - at least thus far. It's the same as before February 23 - threatened with economic sanctions was a green light in his eyes - not much to lose. Now if he is threatened with something serious he will think twice before bringing pointless devastation to Ukrainian civillians - an already poor country of 40m that had a -35% drop in GDP in 2022 WITH electricity, imagine what is at stake if Putin keeps destroying energy infrastructure...

What on Earth makes you think it would make Putin think twice? He doesn't care about his people, he cares about his own position ang legacy, and a bit of civilian suffering is nothing to him. If anything, Putin would see it as a way to rally popular support for the war due to attacks on what has been Russian territory for ages. Putin responds to about two things: force, and credible threats with force. Attacks on civiliation populace are not a threat to him, unless he lets it happen.