This article is proof that you're deep enough into crypto, you lose the ability to see any event through any other lens. Putin's actions in Ukraine are not a g

This article is proof that you're deep enough into crypto, you lose the ability to see any event through any other lens. Putin's actions in Ukraine are not a great mystery, and do not require a conspiracy to impose a CBDC to explain. Putin and his circle are in complete control of Russia and Russian politics and face no meaningful domestic opposition. He has no requirement to manufacture a war or other crisis to change economic policy, no requirement to impose a CBDC to exert pressure on his population, and no requirement to exert mass control of his population at all, given his wide popularity. Regarding Ukraine, Putin judged that the Ukrainian government were pro-West and hostile to his regime, and that this was unlikely to change without some external factor forcing it to. He observed the sanctions situation following the Crimean annexation and judged that sanctions were 1) survivable, 2) not likely to be elevated to the point that they risked European economic growth and energy security, and 3) not likely to be relaxed without significant concessions. Most recently, Putin observed the Western withdrawal from Afghanistan and concluded Ukraine was an analogous situation: As he saw it, the government was corrupt, it only survived due to Western backing, and its members would flee when faced with rapid defeat (and likely execution). This would produce a power vacuum, and neither the armed forces or the civilian population would offer serious resistance to a new regime. And, presented with a fait accompli, the West would agree to recognise new government in the same way they had with the Taliban despite having fought against them for 20 years. Based on this, he saw little downside to what he genuinely believed would be a swift and decisive operation to replace the government of Ukraine. After the plan's initial failure, he has no alternative but to try to save some face by completing the conquest or forcing an uneven armistice.