News flash: Ukraine aren't part of NATO. Nor have they been invited into it. Nobody has shown aggression towards Russia. It's Russia that has attacked Ukraine and threatening to use nukes now. Get your head checked.
Ukraine is a sovereign territory and they've been invaded by Russia. This is just an old fashioned war based upon simple territorial expansion.
I don't know if Putin counted on China following with a move on Taiwan (which would no doubt spark WW3) but that doesn't look like it'll happen now. Perhaps the Chinese value $ > ideology after all.
So what is the end game? Russia is only supported by Belarus (whatever) and Serbia (LOL) and it's economy is heading down the toilet fast. Their troops are losing morale quickly because they don't really know why they're in there anyway.
I think that the easiest solution here is assassination of Putin from within Russia, either by a citizen who is watching his country go down the drain or a senior military figure that can organise a coup. In any case there would be many Russians losing faith with Putin's vague vision here.
