Quote:
Originally Posted by Pointman
Putin feels cornered and desperate yet determined to do something.
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I don't buy it.
Putin is definitely not stupid or ignorant or incapable of reading the geopolitical power balance. If anything he's probably one of the world's best experts on the question of power politics. He knows he's safe from external threats (or he knows something none of us knows).
All his talk about western threat is rhetorics directed at his own people. After all he needs to explain what's going on to his soldiers and taxpayers somehow, and his many supporters abroad.
But this isn't a show of desperation, he's just taking advantage of his current strength, and the only reason he needs is that he can.
IF there is a threat he's worried about, it's his declining popularity within Russia or some other internal threat. Winning wars tends to be a sure way to make a leader popular.
(I'm sure Putin knows as well as anyone that people like him generally don't get to retire peacefully, and declining popularity quite often literally means death to dictators, as it leaves room for someone else to gather a power base.)