Georgia cannot be the end game. A tiny country of 5 million pains-in-the-asses is not worth the risk.

My guess is that Ukraine is the prize. Were Putin able to annex Ukraine the dynamics of Russia’s future would shift heavily in favor of Moscow. Ukraine’s endless pool of military conscripts and huge stockpiles of military hardware would put real teeth and claws on the Bear. Enough to keep the Eurps paying whatever tribute Putin demanded of them.

Maybe Putin sees his daring gambit as Russia’s last hope. As Wretchard said the Chinese will soon enough own Siberia from the sheer numbers of migration. Demographic trends within Russia itself mark the end of Russian civilization as a time certain within a couple generations.

If you can’t grow your own chillun’ you take somebody else’s. It worked well for the Romans and not so good for the Sabines. I suspect Putin is dreaming of lots of babies with Russian names growing up in Kyev.