Not to be idealist but how much can we imagine that they think they are protected by the hand of God? They know they are on the wrong side of history. There is some level of generational trauma. They watched Germany do the holocaust and thrn run the EU. So what if they are just putting it all on the line and betting they will come out on top because the political order favors the most ruthless and they can deal with peobelms later? Cause like, I kinda think that is how the US runs. They are our mercenary army. It would make sense they plan for victory or death