I first mentioned the Hitler-Todt episode in this column in 2014, in anticipation of Mr. Putin bringing the world to such moment. It is difficult not to imagine him now fingering his weapons of mass destruction, particularly his tactical nuclear warheads, and wondering if they might offer a way out of his dilemma—a concern publicly aired this week by CIA Director William Burns.
Only one answer would seem to fit the situation: a clear signal to Mr. Putin that, in such a case, NATO airpower will join the war on Ukraine’s side and reduce most of his standing army to a smoldering wreck. Where the decisive ground battle is now shaping up in eastern Ukraine, the open terrain is especially conducive to such an aerial campaign.
The logic of preserving his army to fight another day will be hard for Mr. Putin to ignore if he hopes to stay in his job. Seven weeks of war have also been useful: He and his domestic allies have had a chance to wrap their heads around the possibility of defeat. For his colleagues, moreover, an easy decision is not to see everything they value destroyed for the sake of a man they’ve come to loathe personally.
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