Originally Posted by Scrapper

Nice take. I enjoy putting myself in the perspective of the opposition and what I'd do. The first thing I'd do is park part of the Russian navy off the coast of Somalia and seize cargo ships from countries that seized Russian citizens' property. This would bottleneck shipping in the Suez canal causing prices to go up.

Second, I'd have a nuclear-capable submarine just appear one day in the main harbor of Iran. That would rocket gas prices worldwide and scare Israel to pressure anyone who'd listen. Those two actions would certainly have the EU rethink the relationship with Ukraine.

Finally, I know Russians and have been in a long relationship with one and have been there many times. They are not pussies and will fight. When this current landslide of negative public opinion settles Russia will most certainly still be there.

My take. I believe it's more than the newly discovered gas/oil fields in the South Black Sea or Donetsk/Luhansk. There is a deep criminal cabal in both countries and I think they both came to the conclusion Putin outlived his usefulness.

In short, the Tribe got greedy went for it, and got caught. Otherwise, Putin didn't need any more money. He's wealthy enough for 10 lifetimes and all he had to do was sit there and do nothing until the day he died. There wasn't a reason for a move unless he was moved against.