The very existence of a functioning Democracy is the threat.
That Ukraine might have become the example of Western Style Democracy in the Face of Russian Culture well that is the reason for the war.
Can't have basically a mirrored society given the connections of the peoples and the shared history of the region going back hundreds of years, becoming a Western ( In Russia's Face ) Democracy that functions better than whatever Russia calls itself.
What I don't get Rodger is that it has all backfired!
Perhaps Russia can carve away some more of Ukraine but what is left is now firmly Pro-West.
I believe Ukraine has applied to become part of the E.U.
I believe Finland and Sweden are joining NATO.
If they do and if Russia has to pull back after gorging on more Ukraine so they can reevaluate their economic abilities going forward then with the help of Western suppliers Russia will be met with a modern enemy coming at them with all the "Kick Putin's ass technology" the allies can allow.
Can you tell me what Putin really gets? What has this done for Russia or maybe it's ( like Trump ) all about Putin?
no, i can't. i think i know what he wanted, but he couldn't have gone about screwing himself any better if he tried.
he wanted to keep NATO away from his border, but even if he had succeeded, Norway and Finland would have joined, probably faster than they are now. that would have invited further war, and he probably would have used tactical nukes, or chemical weapons, and invited a confrontation with NATO.
before the war started, he was direly misinformed about the status of his military, and the status of operations in Ukraine that would have facilitated his takeover, but since this has started, we've learned that not only is his military poorly trained and inept, all of his hardware is in a sad state of repair, and it's questionable if many of his nuclear devices are still operational. i would estimate that at the very least, half of his warheads are non operational, and cannot be effectively repaired.
the human ego can be a fragile thing, and it appears that putin's ego is tied up in being the leader of a world super power. it would also appear that he is going to either have to give that dream up, or elevate the conflict in Ukraine, which cannot end well for russia. they're already short of men and material, and have no place to call reinforcements from that won't leave them with an unprotected flank.
this is when a reasonable person would call for peace talks, but putin isn't a reasonable person.