yeah, I suppose Putin is rational in his way. But he’s part of a global mass movement, directed against the West, that includes the likes of Ali Khamenei, and whatever-his-name-is in Pyongyang, who are a bit crazed, let us say. And if you take John Schindler seriously, as I do, Putin’s religious beliefs are quite serious, and are part of that old Russian impulse to teach the West what life is all about.
So I worry quite a bit about Putin. I think he sees himself as a leader of a messianic movement, and so long as he keeps winning he’ll keep advancing. And since nobody’s going to do anything serious to stop him or his buddies in North Korea, Iran and elsewhere for at least two years, it’s going to be very exciting.