Why Putin had to launch his “Special Military Operation”

After decades of pleading and accommodation, Putin finally had no choice but to act as he did.

When Putin launched his “Special Military Operation”, he said that he had three goals:

1. Safeguard and protect the people in the Donbas and their fledgling republics
2. De-Nazify the Kiev regime — i.e., liquidate the Azov Battalion and the other Nazi groups
3. Demilitarise Ukraine and restore it to neutrality — i.e., kick NATO and the US out of Ukraine.