You do realize that your examples are 70 and 60 years old, yes? And that Putin is not Khrushchev? They may not be particularly relevant to today’s situation.
Imho Putin is from the same thug lineage as Khrushchev.
He’s a two-bit bully that knows squinting his eyes and snarling gets his point across.
Putin may not give a damn about his own life. But the historical memory of the Russian Empire is important to him and his inner circle. He’s trying to restart that empire as a legacy to his Presidency. They would not willingly allow 2/3 of Russia to disintegrate into dust.
Again Imho YMMV
It would require extreme Western aggression to trigger that response. Basically the Nazis seige on Stalingrad level of combat.
Since we are in the IMHO forum…in my humble opinion, Putin is a completely different sort of person – he’s not a thug, he’s a cold-blooded, ruthless dictator. He’s shown, time and again, a complete willingness to do horrible things to achieve his goals.
I pity the Russian people. I really do. I also pity half of the US population. Propaganda machines are in both, and, I’m sure all countries. Heck, that exists in neighborhoods as gossip.
Mostly, because many are to lazy to look for facts, and also because it’s easier to eat something fed to you, than go to the grocery store and make a meal.
That’s not considered thuggery?
Sure, it’s on a higher level because Putin has a army. But he’s no different from a guy that would bash your head in for your wallet. Then take the money to a fine restaurant while you’re in the ER.
A thug…again, IMHO…is a small-time, violent, brutal criminal.
Putin is more like a high-level crime lord and assassin.
I don’t see Putin that way. Putin would talk with you, distract you, and then walk away, with your wallet, while your throat starts to close up as you realize that he’s poisoned you while you were distracted.
I totally agree. Putin is the type of criminal that you never want closer than 12 ft from you. That’s charging and lunging with a knife distance.
I guess Putin’s mother loved him. 
I wanted to add that my point is plausible deniabilty. The UN/US had an armed conflict with China over the communist intrusion in Korea. We fought Chinese MiGs. wink, wink, Any Russian captured pilots were interrogated & ignored. We certainly didn’t parade them on tv and risk embarrassing the Soviets.
That’s why I suggested a volunteer Air Squadron made up of retired International F-16 pilots. They are no longer offically affiliated with any governments military.
It’s plausible deniabilty. The same Card that Russia used in Korea and Vietnam. Everyone knows they directly supported, supplied, and paid for those wars. No one dares to risk a direct International confrontation by calling them out.
Why can’t NATO do that in Ukraine? Quietly arrange to get whatever needs to be accomplished efficiently completed. Force a Russian withdrawal. Make certain there’s some plausible deniabilty. Sweetly smile and say “we don’t understand what you’re referring too?” when they protest.
They’ve done it to us for too long.
I think most trained pilots have better opportunities that selling insurance. They can, for example, fly planes. And I think a lot of them would rather be flying a commercial airliner to Las Vegas rather than flying a combat mission over Kiev.
And then Putin says “So these pilots aren’t regular military? If they’re not military and they were shooting and bombing my citizens, I guess that makes them terrorists. Since they’re not protected by the Geneva convention and you say they’re not yours, I guess you have no reason to object if I shoot them.”
The civilian pilots would need affiliation or an alliance with the Ukrainian military. Again, it’s plausible deniability.
It wouldn’t save the captured men their lives. We all know Russian savagery all too well.
The goal is to save millions of lives in Ukraine. It has to be done in a way that avoids triggering WWIII.
What I suggested worked for Russia in Korea and Vietnam. It served their National interest to spread Communism without triggering a global nuclear war.
Imho The US went along with the ridiculous pretext that Russia and their allies weren’t involved because we didn’t want that war either.
btw Those Chinese MiGs that our Vets dog-fighted in Korea? Where did they come from? Russia, with a new coat of paint. But don’t tell anyone! 
I apologize for rambling on. It’s been on my mind for months. I dream about it and the various contingencies at play. The Soviets and Russian country have been my enemy my entire life. I hid under school desks in Nuke drills because of them.
Tonight what’s on my mind spilled out of me.
Don’t misunderstand. It’s not anger. I’m beyond something that petty and trivial. I want Putin and his country humilated and defeated. Do it without triggering a Nuclear war. Something has to be done to protect the Baltic states from Russian imperialist aggressiion.
Any one of you got a mop that I can use? 
Clean up in aisle 2.
I was tired and didn’t say this well.
The Soviets and later Russia have a long history of stirring the pot of dissension in troubled countries. Quietly encouraging and arming rebels sympathetic to Communism. Eventually armed conflict breaks out and Russia says our hands are clean. We didn’t do anything but offer encouragement. Of course they are already funneling money and supplies towards that conflict.
The West wasn’t stupid. They knew what happened.
They choose to ignore it and avoid a Nuclear war. Instead we fought a series of armed conflicts in Korea, Vietnam, Nicaragua (by proxy), and Granada.
Cuba was the grenade that almost exploded. The Soviets took it too far with missiles off the coast of Florida, and had to back off.
Soviet strategy was quite effective until they went bankrupt funding these wars.
That same strategy works both ways. Deception and plausible deniabilty can defeat Russia without backing them into a Nuclear response. Give them an execuse to overlook the obvious.
One does get the impression that there is a distinct sense of ‘this has gone on too long’ fatigue in the west about the Ukraine situation. So, yes, Russia might sort of prevail out of attrition and inertia.
Also (and this is admittedly a completely hypothetical conspiracy theory speculation): could the Hamas attack on Israel have been at least in part a deliberately orchestrated diversion?
Not directly by Russia, perhaps, but through covert channels involving Iran.
Russia and Iran are hardly close bedfellows, but may be at least temporarily linked by the ‘enemy of my enemy is my ally’ meme?
Iran has been supplying Drones to Russia. They could anticipate that this is an excellent opportunity to switch World attention to Israel’s war. It forces the West to divert supplies and weapons to two conflicts.
Link https://www.cnn.com/2023/07/25/politics/us-russia-iran-drones/index.html
Sorry, the little bug in my ear can’t quite let this one go. Even by Ukrainian standards neither of those were “major cities” - more like provincial towns. Bakhmut, which was more than twice as large as Avdiivka, had around 70,000 people before the war and wasn’t even in the top 50. The port of Mariupol on the other hand arguably does fit the definition, as it was the tenth largest city in the country before being gutted by the war.
Ukraine has indeed taken enormous damage, but there usually isn’t much point in being hyperbolic on the facts to try and prove a point.
The only thing somewhat accurate here is the last sentence. Somewhat.
Indeed. Friend of mine was a CAF fighter pilot. Retired and then got a job flying for Alaska Airline. I don’t think he would leave his wife and children and $100,000 + job to go and fly in a hot war.
There’s always a few somebodies who want to be a mercenaries. But not many as a percentage.
By the time any organization could stand up a fleet of aircraft and maintainers, and source all the requisite ongoing parts & munitions support, getting pilots through the regular pipeline is not going to be the pacing obstacle.
I was being too facetious with my example. Pilots are well educated and have better job prospects.
A lot of military retirees take rather staid office jobs. It pays the bills. My dad went from First Sergeant of a Squadron to Job Corp Recruiter for Uncle Sam. Good job, but it’s not the same reward. The First in a unit works directly for a Colonel, usually base commander.
Sure, but you’ve got to have a system whereby promising officers are “tried out” in higher and higher command positions, and underperforming ones are moved out of those positions just as rapidly.
I’m not sure the Russians have developed such a system- as far as I can tell, they’re sort of hanging on by their fingernails in a lot of ways, and staying in the fight by dint of extensive fortifications and larger numbers. They certainly don’t have the initiative, and they’re certainly not really pushing the Ukrainians backward at the moment.
The Ukrainians aren’t playing that same game of “throw bodies at the problem” that the Russians are- they’re fighting in a much more Western style. Not fully; they’re doing some things that Western generals find unproductive. But on the whole, the Ukrainians are fighting a much more mobile, combined-arms type battle versus the Russians.
So I think as long as the West keeps the armaments shipments coming, the Ukrainians can keep the fight going.