have just been thrown into it. but it puts pressure on him at home. the clock is ticking. we're reading reports, more and more protests, some dissent. so this is -- i worry that he's going to now going to go all in, heavily, sort of old soviet style of really shock, artillery, that awful thermal air power, and that will be when it really gets gruesome. >> that is such a frightening, frightening scenario. and on top of that concern, he has also announced his nuclear and other deterrent forces are on high alert. clearly this is not playing out the way he wanted to. the question is, did he do that to try to flex muscle, right, ahead of these talks tomorrow,