By meddling in Ukraine the west has effectively and deliberately pushed Putin to the edge of what he is capable, creating an “impossible situation” for him where he must walk the most fine line to avoid disaster on either side.
Now the west has perfect justification to advance bases and influence in Ukraine, having successfully duped the world and replaced Ukraine’s government practically overnight with a new western puppet government. Nationalism is running high which means the war-mongrels can get away with just about anything.
The west wants open conflict with Russia, possibly envisioning a wider conflict involving others as well. I suspect this is seen as a solution to economic woes in the US and EU that are, despite media and politicians lying reassurances, otherwise unsolvable. If the west doesn’t act now, and it must either be against Russia, China, North Korea, or the Middle East (we see the last option having been exhausted with little gain other than expanded oil control, domestic increase of power and enriching key individual corporations, so now the new conflict must correct that hubris and wastefulness of the last) it will soon face unsolvable economic collapse of power. The west is still too wary of taking on China, so had orchestrated Russia to be the next patsy in its military stratagem.
The question I have is how the nuclear aspect will play into things. Antagonizing Russia must involve plans for accepting nuclear war, so the west clearly had scenarios in place invoking nuclear combat that plays into western hands. It is possible this is a primary goal of this whole western scheme.
If Russia is made to launch a nuke it will lose all credibility and international influence. This won’t be like the US using nukes against Japanese civilians; the situation had been cultivated by the west now that if Russia were to use a nuke there would be no possible “necessary evil” justification it could rely on, except of course to its own people. But I suspect the Russian people are already targets of western propaganda and subversion efforts, in the event that a spiraling up of anti-Putin sentiment is needed.
A computer or power grid attack timed perfectly could render Russian nuclear sites inoperable for probably a few minutes or so, plenty of time to decimate large enough sections of the military economy with key western strikes that Russia would have more incentive and need to power down its nuke sites than to fire them. Putin is not suicidal and would never openly engage nuclear holocaust, he loves his people and culture too much.
The western leaders, however, have very little such qualms in regard to open nuclear combat. The only issue is one of preparing the populace to accept the possibility, then inevitability and “necessary evil” of it. Such a process is well under way, and it is startling the total un-thinking and one-sided media and political commentary in the US around the Russia-Ukraine issue. The only conclusion to draw from this is that the informational and psychological control net has become intensely powerful and subtle, although still perhaps not enough yet to engage the end-game with Russia without concern. Once disagreement and dissent are being manufactured to the same skillful degree as agreement is, they might be ready. So look for a few key figures and meme-movements in the west and especially the US to spring up and gain small steam and media coverage, but no real traction of course, speaking out in defense of Russia and against NATO actions in Ukraine.