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Opinion
Andreas Kluth

Putin, His Rat and Six Ways the War in Ukraine Could End

What makes Russia's aggression so terrifying is that it’s determined solely by the perceived self-interest of one man.

But how?

But how?

Photographer: Ina Fassbender/AFP via Getty Images

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Nobody knows how Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine will end, but most scenarios range from bad to worse. To grasp them, start by considering what is indubitably the world’s most notorious rat. 

That’s the one Russian President Vladimir Putin claims he once — as a boy in what was then Leningrad — chased down a hallway. Cornered, the rat turned and attacked him.