Russian Roulette

American commentators are saying Putin doesn't want to fight a war directly with the USA. Maybe that's true. Of course, we all hope so.

However, I can say with a high degree of confidence that Biden doesn't want the USA to fight a war directly against Russia. Which makes me wonder how much Putin is becoming emboldened by the notion that Biden's soft USA is likely to be more willing to make concessions, in order to avoid that high stakes conflict, than he is. 

Why would Putin assume that?

Well, to start with, Putin's seething contempt for Americans colors everything he sees, to do with the USA. Secondly, there's no telling how many wild ideas are in Putin's gangster head. But let's figure that since he doesn't consult much with peace-lovers afraid of launching World War III, he's kind of unfettered. Not consulting saves time. 

Thus, if Putin decides he wants to order all of Russia's military to go on a suicide mission, it looks like he believes he can do it. What's going on in Ukraine suggests just that. With his low-road campaign in that country going so badly -- with war crimes aplenty -- he may now be fantasizing that no matter how his crazy stupid his orders get, they will be followed. Who knows how correct about that he is?

Still, in his life-in-a-bunker isolation, Putin may have managed to convince himself that he has a winning advantage in his brewing showdown with NATO, because he's more willing to look the grim reaper in the eye without flinching than his opponents are. But I'm already tired of guessing what Putin the bully wants, that is, in addition to being an emperor and a champion Russian Roulette player.     

OK, if I'm halfway right about Putin, the psycho tough guy, the best hope for a genuine solution to our trouble may be that there really are enough Russians who love their children and grandchildren and totally dig what I'm saying. Enough human beings who will find a sure way to prevent Putin from ever pushing the power button on the modern equivalent of the "Doomsday Machine," from "Dr. Strangelove, or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb" (1964). 

Uh-oh, suddenly that '60s Cold War anxiety, from living poised on the brink of nuclear war, is lurking again. That dark nostalgia makes me wish steely Jack Kennedy and his keen-eyed brother, Bobby, could be back in the Oval Office, calling the shots in this ancient game to see who blinks first. Maybe Biden and Harris and their teams are up to the challenge. So far, I like to think they've done a pretty good job.

Nonetheless, looking back almost 50 years, I'm sure glad the Kennedys were there in October of 1962, during the tense Cuba Missile Crisis. Hard for me to imagine Putin buffaloing those boys. Anyway, I hope Biden's top advisors have all seen "Dr. Strangelove" and they know how it turns out ... "we'll meet again."  

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