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Originally Posted by Kursk
Well, that's one interpretation. Another might be that the President is not playing but acting in what he regards as the best interests of his country.
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Maybe but that interpretation is rather weak. I fail to see how redrawing the European borders by invading another, democratic, sovereign country and making it your own is in the best interests of the Russian people. It seems more about appealing to a sense of lost national pride. If he was concerned about their best interests he would have spent the last 10 years diversifying the Russian economy rather than riding an oil boom.
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I think he will have had a pretty good grasp of the likely repercussions but only a gambler would test the strength of his hand.
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He tested his hand himself by taking Crimea. He probably thought he could ride out Western sanctions due to oil but miscalculated how much he upset Saudi Arabia in his prior support for Assad and now vulnerable he left Russia open to a fall in oil prices.
Unfortunately for the rest of us when you invade, occupy and redraw the borders of a European country then you leave other European and Western Nations with no choice but to respond.