And here’s some more on Ukraine – Markus Becker and Matthias Gebauer in Der Spiegel:

‘Moscow is accusing the West of seeking to establish military superiority. The Kremlin is demanding that NATO stop admitting former Soviet republics like Ukraine into the military alliance. Moscow also wants NATO to withdraw its forces from its member states in the east.’’

(…)

‘As insiders told DER SPIEGEL, fears are now circulating within NATO that Russian forces could use their recently increased presence in the Mediterranean, the North Atlantic and the Arctic to strike on a broad front – even targeting NATO member states. The sources said that massive disinformation campaigns and cyberattacks are also to be expected.’

(…)

‘For weeks, NATO has been puzzling over why, exactly, the Russian leader is deploying troops on the Ukrainian border – particularly since his primary demand has already been met. The prospect of NATO membership for Ukraine and Georgia, which was extended to the countries in 2008, is essentially off the table for the foreseeable future because of the ongoing border conflicts.’

(…)

‘Putin’s provocations have already ruthlessly exposed the weaknesses of Western alliance. Just how far the U.S. and the Europeans would go to defend NATO countries like Estonia or Lithuania remains an open question – not to mention non-members like Ukraine. It is also unclear whether the Europeans could bring themselves to impose tough economic sanctions in the event of an invasion of Ukraine given that such sanctions would cause energy prices in Europe to rise further.’

(…)

‘German Chancellor Olaf Scholz recently described the project as a purely "private-sector venture," adding that approval was "completely unpolitical." The pipeline has already been built, but it cannot become operational until it is given authorization by the government in Berlin.
Biden’s fellow Democrats obviously view things differently. The draft bill in the Senate describes Nord Stream 2 as a "tool of malign influence of the Russian Federation."’

Read the article here.

Most important, the weaknesses and divisions have been exposed. They were already exposed in Syria, which was a war mainly won by Russia, but now they cannot be missed anymore. It's out there in the open.

So, what is the reason for Putin to go to war? He can only lose. Because what the hell is Putin going to do with let’s say Lviv? He has already won.