Thanks for the interesting post.

I've been reading Catherine Belton's book Putin's People. The Putin she describes is an able manipulator and survivor. Someone adept at running or co-opting people to his own ends. I have a hard time squaring the Putin described in the book with the Putin we see now, who has destroyed two decades of Russian progress.

Power corrupts so perhaps Putin's decades in power have lead Putin to see himself as the modern Peter the Great, the rebuilder of the Russian empire.

The other picture that comes from Belton's book is that Putin is the leader of the KGB faction. Like any leader, he's not alone, but is aided by others. How is it that this faction is willing to countenance Russia becoming a Europe adjacent North Korea? Perhaps there is a whole faction that believes in the resurrection of the Russian empire.

In the late 1980s and early 1990s there was a faction in the KGB that understood that state planned socialism could not compete with the West. They supported market reforms, which then spiraled out of control. Putin was the person who took control of the system.

Such insight seems to be missing in Russia now. The idea that Russia can "go it alone" without any global integration, except perhaps as a client state of China is obviously not possible.

I don't understand what Putin or those around him are thinking as they usher in what seems to be a disaster for Russia on many levels.