> but what if Putin is offed or dies suddenly and the populace, driven to such jingoist frenzy that it lost all sense of reality and actually believes they can

> but what if Putin is offed or dies suddenly and the populace, driven to such jingoist frenzy that it lost all sense of reality and actually believes they can take on NATO and win, puts an even more evil and reckless "rebuilder of empire" on the throne? That seems like a job for the Russian propaganda machine. Just as they manipulated malleable minds towards one idea, they can do it towards another: "We were never at war with NATO".