Sorry to be a party pooper...but. Was there a problem with Putin being a Czar for the past 20 years? I don't see it. We seem to be okay with a similar system in the "Kingdom" of Saudi Arabia. As long as we get cheap resources and our technology isn't threatened do we really care what the Czars of the world do?

If Putin was really the problem I find it hard to believe he, or the men closest to him, couldn't be taken out. HE certainly worries about it. So why hasn't there been a strong effort to kill off his regime?

Maybe it's because the longer he's in power the weaker Russia becomes--the better the deals to be had in Siberia and Ukraine when there's no one with a tank threatening you. I'm not arguing that people are discussing this consciously, but that's what I would be thinking in a way.

Maybe Putin invaded Ukraine because he has Imperialist ambitions. I don't doubt that for a second. However, those ambitions might be a reaction to feeling threatened by the increasing power of your buyers and your increasing weakness.

What we know from the war, which I don't see pointed out, is that the tech sanctions since 2014 HAVE worked. The Russian Air Force is no match for Western anti-aircraft. Until the war, I thought it was! In a weird way, that Russa wasn't able to take Ukraine demonstrates that whatever the intent of NATO was, the fact is, Russia was indeed getting weaker and it attacked BEFORE it had meaningful production of Armada Tanks, or new fighter jets, or even an aircraft carrier that was seaworthy.

I digress. We either want a Czar to sell us cheap resources and keep its local population in line, or we want a Czar to give up any of those gains and start from the beginning with a better deal.