Putin's Murder-Suicide Pact With Russia

The Russian combination of paranoia and inflated self worth is astonishing to watch. Far from being a 3D chess player, Putin would have trouble with Candy Land.

Oh?

Addressing lawmakers in St Petersburg, Putin claimed the West wanted to cut Russia up into different pieces and accused it of pushing Ukraine into conflict with Russia.

The West was content to not think of Russia at all. The idea that anybody cared to break up Russia as an active plot is just insane.

Speaking of insanity:

Russian President Vladimir Putin said troops and volunteers in the eastern Ukrainian Donbas region were "fighting for the motherland, its future" and he accused the West of preparing for an "invasion of our land".

Putin was speaking at the annual parade on Moscow's Red Square, which marks the anniversary of the Soviet Union's victory over Nazi Germany in the Second World War.

He called Nato "an obvious threat" to Russia and said the Russian military operation had been necessary and the "right decision".

Putin believes the West made Ukraine resist Russia so strenuously? 

Putin is Russia's worse enemy. I think being ignored is far worse for Putin than being hated:

Face it, the Russian leadership just hates being ignored, and would rather be hated than endure that humiliation. 

The ultimate humiliation is that no matter what Russia does, China is the West's "Big Bad" rather than Russia. Russia is a regional power in the west--albeit with short-term military advantages--with continents-spanning defense needs.

Even apart from the risk of appeasing China, Russia's pointless hostility to NATO is not cost-free. I don't think Russia is necessarily done splintering:

Is a third collapse of the Russian empire possible? Could Russia's insane focus on grabbing scraps of the Soviet Union blind them to a looming third collapse among the Russian portions of the empire?

Russia is the sick, angry man of Europe and they have no idea of their peril from within as they search for non-existent NATO plots against them. 

We may see just how small Russia can get under Putin. It's not just me, although the timing hasn't been predicted.

The Russians should count themselves lucky if it is true that "the Ukraine campaign may signal the last gasp of the Putin era, as reality closes in on the pretensions of an isolated dictator."

If Russia is cut up into pieces, you'll find Putin collapsed over the map with a bloody knife in his hand.

#WhyRussiaCan'tHaveNiceThings

NOTE: War coverage continues at this post.