Will Putin invade Ukraine? That's the million-dollar question. Joe Biden certainly seems to think so. But whether Vladimir Putin will actually do it, or is just playing political chess, is anyone's guess.
Putin has long griped about the collapse of the Soviet Union, which explains how he feels about Ukraine. The US and NATO accuse him of posturing, but he thinks NATO is doing the same.
In a new episode of GZERO World with Ian Bremmer, Ukraine expert Alina Polyakova says the Russian leader has put a “noose” around Ukraine with his troop build-up along the border and cyberattacks. Putin has responded to Western diplomacy with demands that are impossible to meet.
Still, the US and NATO are trying their best to stop the war. For Polyakova, the Biden administration is leading the efforts because the Europeans are not on the same page.
Putin shouldn't test NATO unity. A Russian invasion of Ukraine, she says, could strengthen the alliance — as did Russia's 2014 annexation of Crimea.
Most Ukrainians, for their part, embrace the West and want to join NATO, but Polyakova thinks they need to fix their fragile democracy first.
As a bonus: how can we prevent an arms race in space?
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