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Ukraine war: Has Putin overplayed his hand?

February 28, 2022
GZERO Staff
War in Europe | GZERO World with Ian Bremmer

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After weeks of military buildup and lies, Russia has attacked Ukraine. We are watching a worst-case scenario — a full invasion by land, sea, and cyberspace — play out in real time. With diplomacy dead, Western allies are now turning to sanctions.

The mood was somber at the recent Munich Security Conference, where world leaders were scrambling to avoid exactly this outcome.

On GZERO World, Ian Bremmer talks to former CIA boss David Petraeus to discuss the "porcupine" Vladimir Putin has eaten, and to John Kerry, former US Secretary of State and the Biden administration's current climate czar, about Putin's other big problem with climate.

Petraeus — who knows a thing or two about invasions, in his case US-led ones of Iraq — warns that for Russia, holding Ukraine will be a lot tougher than invading it. He also thinks Putin has miscalculated because when he shook the tree, out came NATO more united than it's been since the Cold War.

Kerry, for his part, believes that for Putin, war in Ukraine is a welcome distraction from Russia's more long-term problem: climate change. He also pushes back against the narrative that the US is in decline while authoritarians like Putin and China's Xi Jinping are on the rise.

As a bonus: surf’s up in ... Munich?

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