Russians upset with military rout

 PJ Media:

Many military and Russian analysts are claiming that the rout of Russian forces around Kharkiv is a “pivotal moment” in the war. It very well may be. Pro-Putin Russian bloggers are bitterly denouncing the military and even Putin himself for the sorry state of affairs that has led the Russian military to this low point.

As the Russians were being routed, scores of Russian soldiers were seen stripping off their uniforms and refusing to fight, according to Newsweek. They also reported that “Russian troops were switching to ‘terrorist’ tactics in parts of the Kherson region, where civilians in the settlement of Velyka Oleksandrivka were being used as ‘human shields.'”

Related: Russia Routed in Kharkiv Counteroffensive

Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin attended the opening of a new Ferris wheel in a Moscow park, commemorating the 875th anniversary of Moscow’s founding. This is in keeping with Putin’s “business as usual” campaign to placate civilians during the war.

But the reality is beginning to hit home. And the big question for the world is, what next? What will Putin do if he begins to lose the war and is threatened with removal?

One Ukrainian/Russian analyst, Alexander Ziperovich, has been writing about Putin’s options for months.

Yet I also implicitly understand a dark truth: the worse Vladimir Putin’s army fares on the battlefield, the more of a threat he becomes to the entire world. It’s a counterintuitive reality, but a very serious one. This offensive is precisely the kind of development I fear might render Putin increasingly desperate, and thus, dangerous.

The moment right before his regime collapses will be the most perilous for the world, when Putin could conceivably reach for any one of his many nuclear weapons, to prevent outright military loss in Ukraine, and save himself from being toppled. After all, if Russia’s conventional forces are routed, tactical nuclear weapons would presumably become the next logical step for a regime desperate to avoid a complete military catastrophe.

There’s a very real risk of Putin doing something that is utterly insane to save his own skin. As they say, desperate men do desperate things.

I’ve been writing about this possibility for months, as Joe Biden has been arming Ukraine to the teeth and openly calling for Putin’s ouster. Responsible statesmen do not try to goad an unstable dictator armed with a couple of thousand nuclear weapons.

But no one ever said Joe Biden was responsible. His declining mental health coupled with Putin’s instability is an explosive mixture that could lead to unpredictable — and dangerous — results.

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Putin has said he might use Russia's nukes if Russia was invaded or attacked.  I do not see Ukraine doing that, but I do think Ukraine wants to regain Crimea which Russia now claims.  I do not see a negotiated settlement at this point.  We could see an overthrow of the Putin regime.  His handling of the military and the attacks in Ukraine have been a disaster.