If the Russians use it as an excuse to save face, and effectively meet Ukraine requirements for the return of land, then I'm ok with that. That sounds like a different way of describing capitulation or defeat.
However it ends, we can be confident that Russia will spin it as positively as possible for internal consumption. Regardless of how it ends.
Using that resolution as an excuse to go all in. "Hey - we're at war with NATO either way, so lets dust off these nukes and see how they work" kind of logic.
Reminds me of what Timothy Snyder said about the Russians always blaming the US for everything. He said there is absolutely nothing the US could do to get Russia to stop. Russia isn't doing it because they think the US has done something wrong, they are doing it because they need to blame someone else for whatever went wrong and the US is the scapegoat of choice.
Russia will blame NATO for the loss, even if NATO doesn't enter the war. If NATO is drawn into direct conflict, it will give the excuse a bit more credence, but NATO is going to get blamed either way.
And blaming NATO is probably not going to save Putin. At the end of the day, Putin started this war and any Russian who isn't completely drunk on the Kool-Aid knows that this war is Putin's responsibility and when Russia loses, they will blame Putin for it. If NATO is involved in the fight at that point, Putin will be blamed for picking a fight with NATO that Russia couldn't possibly win.
Girkin and Prigozhin have been getting bolder and bolder in their commentary about the war and both have been telling it like it is. Girkin went as far as to blame Putin directly in his latest scree. Girkin could end up having an accident, but Prigozhin would be very difficult to do in.
Prigozhin has positioned himself as the rugged strong man Putin made himself out to be early in his reign. All interviews Prigozhin does now is near the frontlines of the war and he is surrounded by the remaining Wagner people. When someone from the regular Russian army tried to attack the Wagner people, he learned the hard way that Wagner is better than the Russian army.
The fact that Putin hasn't ordered Girkin and Prigozhin taken down means one of two things, either his security forces can't be reliably depended on to take them out if ordered to do so, or Putin is getting spoon fed so many lies at this point he doesn't know that these two are saying what they are saying. I think it was Prigozhin who said the other day that Putin was living in a bubble and didn't really know what was going on.
If Putin tries to spin the war's loss as all due to the US and NATO, Girkin and Prigozhin will probably still be there to tell everyone that it was really Putin's fault.
