Out of curiosity. What if, with all of military superiority that becomes more apparent as the ridiculously poor state of the RU military is exposed, we just treated Putin like a virus? WW3 is more likely with that fool walking the earth, so the WW3 argument seems weak. If Putin ceases to exist, what happens to RU? I respect that I know very little but some of my friends here knowledgeable.
Russia has existed for a millennia and isn’t going anywhere. Given their history of Czars, communist dictators and now post-collapse oligarchs, I’d wager democracy is a long way out.
My thoughts are that if Putin is removed, he’s just going to be succeeded by another oligarch strongman until the Russians decide otherwise.
@t_lang another oligarch will take his place, declare victory and withdraw from Ukraine.
@t_lang not knowledgable myself, but have heard ppl I respect (David Rothkopf & his vatos) say that the coterie of oligarchs containing Putin's most probable successors are pretty f*cking horrifying themselves.
So even once he shuffles off it's likely we'll still need to hold RU at bay...