Blue and Yellow Sky Thinking
Sadly a no fly zone above Ukraine seems unlikely since NATO jets would need to be able not only to engage directly with Russian fighters but to neutralise Russian Surface To Air missile batteries on Ukrainian territory. That would risk wider conflict and throw the justification to Putin perhaps to fulfil his veiled threat to use a tactical nuclear missile at a NATO airbase or on Ukrainian military concentrations. Putin and his gangster government are now a pariah state internationally and may soon face an internal backlash leaving them with little to lose by following through on his grotesque threat.
[PS As these days have passed, and the brutality and killings increase exponentially, it does raise the question fully as to whether a no-fly zone is declared by NATO to stop or limit air attacks. The problem is that would cause direct conflict with Russia by NATO potentially and even with it fully enforced, Russia can shell and use missiles to bombard the cities of Ukraine.
Putin is genuinely unhinged and so the nuclear threat, even if "only" battlefield nuclear weapons, has to be considered a likely risk. Putin once told of an event in his childhood when he killed rats. He cornered one rat and with nowhere to go the rat flew at him and escaped. Whether the story is true or not is irrelevant but it does reveal his likely approach if cornered. Only the people of Russia or the Oligarchs who have relied on him for their wealth can unseat him. Hopefully there is a Mussolini lamppost in Moscow waiting for him very soon.]
Blue and Yellow Sky Thinking
Sadly a no fly zone above Ukraine seems unlikely since NATO jets would need to be able not only to engage directly with Russian fighters but to neutralise Russian Surface To Air missile batteries on Ukrainian territory. That would risk wider conflict and throw the justification to Putin perhaps to fulfil his veiled threat to use a tactical nuclear missile at a NATO airbase or on Ukrainian military concentrations. Putin and his gangster government are now a pariah state internationally and may soon face an internal backlash leaving them with little to lose by following through on his grotesque threat.
[PS As these days have passed, and the brutality and killings increase exponentially, it does raise the question fully as to whether a no-fly zone is declared by NATO to stop or limit air attacks. The problem is that would cause direct conflict with Russia by NATO potentially and even with it fully enforced, Russia can shell and use missiles to bombard the cities of Ukraine.
Putin is genuinely unhinged and so the nuclear threat, even if "only" battlefield nuclear weapons, has to be considered a likely risk. Putin once told of an event in his childhood when he killed rats. He cornered one rat and with nowhere to go the rat flew at him and escaped. Whether the story is true or not is irrelevant but it does reveal his likely approach if cornered. Only the people of Russia or the Oligarchs who have relied on him for their wealth can unseat him. Hopefully there is a Mussolini lamppost in Moscow waiting for him very soon.]