Vladimir Putin's nightmare scenario

Speaking in New York, where she is attending the UN General Assembly, Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong attacked Putin's nuclear retaliation threats as "unthinkable" and "irresponsible". Moreover, his "claims of defending Russia's territorial integrity are untrue (and) no sham referendum will make them true". Meanwhile, Putin's partial mobilisation and verbal expectorating encountered some domestic resistance, with demonstrations, arrests, and young draft-age men fleeing Russia to avoid the killing fields of Ukraine. But Putin's advisers have, unlike Grigory Rasputin and Pyotr Durnovo, tugged their collective forelocks. So far, there have been muted suggestions inside Russia that internal opposition has weakened Putin's…