They could have done a "Spoil Vote" ....(the vote is secret!)Had...

They could have done a "Spoil Vote" ....(the vote is secret!)

Had say 50% of voters did that then Putin would have been deprived
an overall majority which he claims to have now!

As such his apparent legitimacy would be critically minimised to say the least.

That said, IMO, the Russian people have the impression that they
are being attacked by the West ...Ukrainians equipped with mostly US
hardware/technology which (rightly or wrongly) resurrect the spectre
of WW2 when Russia lost over 20 million of its people. Virtually every
Russian alive today has lost a close relative in WW2 and many multiples.


If Russia responds to the NATO backed Ukrainians attacking Russian infrastructure
by Putin's touted Tactical Nukes, then the veil of this proxy US/Russia war will
be lifted by the US responding in kind and initially without threatening the US mainland.

Like Vietnam, Iraq & Afghanistan, this war will not likely be on US soil
unless Russia and China use their long range Hypersonic Nuke delivery systems
and then we wont be spared either, IMO, with Pine Gap being an obvious First Strike
target.

So from Aus point of view, the sane thing for us to do is to advocate a ceasefire/negotiated
settlement before WW3 breaks out given that we are absolutely defenceless when it comes
to hypersonic ballistic missiles.

We dont want to be like "Snowy" in the pub picking a fight with a half dozen Hells Angels...eh?
Brave but foolish!