Is there an exit ramp for Putin?

The article posits that leaders like Russian President Vladimir Putin lack "runaway truck ramps", escape lanes that allow vehicles with braking problems to stop safely. Unlike modern engineering marvels that prevent brake failures, political systems, particularly in the United States and Russia, are criticized for not having analogous emergency arrester beds for leaders whose "brakes fail too often."

This absence prevents leaders from dissipating their countries' "potential energy" before it transforms into destructive "kinetic energy." The author draws a parallel to physics, where an inability to stop mid-swing results in an uncontrolled impact, suggesting that unchecked leadership actions lead to similar consequences.

The piece references Putin's recent strikes in Ukraine, adding to the death toll in what it calls his "ill-fated war." It controversially suggests that Putin was "chaperoned" into this war by former U.S. President Joe Biden and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

The article traces the history of Ukraine-NATO relations since 1991, noting Putin's attempts to negotiate NATO's enlargement plans, which he deemed "unacceptable." It highlights the 2008 Bucharest summit where NATO declined Ukraine a membership action plan but indicated eventual membership. The narrative then shifts to Putin leveraging Soviet relations to install Viktor Yanukovych as president, who initially moved Ukraine toward neutrality, before a "coup" allegedly orchestrated by "deep NATO" and neocons removed Yanukovych, leading to Russia's current predicament.