Я Xочу!

This is coolbert:

From the Internet web site of the esteemed Israeli professor Martin van Creveld and thanks to same.

Thoughtful observations of the professor the Ukraine Conflict.

"What Putin Wants"

POSTED ON APRIL 21, 2022 BY MARTIN VAN CREVELD

Initial and last paragraph copied in entirety and unashamedly so:

"First, a disclaimer. President Putin has neither been whispering in my ear nor appearing in my dreams. Nor did his advisers, senior or junior, civilian or military, official or unofficial. Nor, on the other hand, do I necessarily trust any of the usual sources mentioned by Western media. Meaning, their own countries’ intelligence services, the reports of their journalists and cameramen on the ground, tales told by Ukrainian soldiers, tales told by local Ukrainians, tales allegedly originating in Russian POWs, and so on. All these different sources, and many others besides, have their limits. Many also have an ax to grind: either to deny Russian atrocities or to emphasize them as much as possible.  It is as people say. In war, any war without exception, the first casualty is the truth."

Objectives of Vlad as surmised by the professor and "listed in . . . an order of ascending importance".  Я хочу = I want.

* "First, wresting the Donbas away from Ukraine and establishing full control over it."

* "Second, establishing a land-bridge between Russia and the Black Sea. Long ago, it was Prussia’s Frederick the Great who said that a province to which one had access by land was worth ten times as much as one to which no terrestrial link existed."  

* "Third, on the way to achieving these objectives, making sure that any future Ukrainian regime will always serve Russian interests first and foremost. "

* "Fourth, never forget that Russia without Ukraine is a country; Russia with Ukraine is an empire."

* "Fifth, securing for Russia the kind of respect to which, by virtue of its size and power and development and cultural achievements, it feels it is entitled." 

"A final point. Seen through Western eyes . . . Russian rulers were [seen as] autocrats of the worst kind whose most important instruments of (miss) rule were the knout, the labor camp, and the hangman’s noose.  But that is not how Putin himself sees things. According to him, Russians do not need either liberalism or democracy. The reason being that, unlike Westerners, they trust their leaders."

Vlad the caudillo? The strong-man with an authoritarian manner but as generally agreed upon an amiable ruler benevolent for the most part and beloved of his people at the same time?

Wasn't Nicholas II often described in the same way??

coolbert.