None of us know what's in Putin's head, but as disturbing as it is, he could be engaging in

[themaguffin]

in playing the "mad leader."

Of course, he could very well be mentally gone, but given his long history of propaganda, he could be deliberately militant and over the top to throw everyone off balance and in wonder to believe that he very well could go beyond the thinkable.

Again, few people know what his state of mind is, but Reagan did this (seems mundane now) with rhetoric in the early 80s.
It shook people here and globally.

He's been engaged in propaganda and related antics his entire professional life.

The only "plus" to this is that it would be better than him being truly mentally unstable enough to really mean these things.

It feels like the attack on the nuclear plant was meant to shake everyone. In the end it's more like traditional terrorism.

[ck4829]

1. Reagan's policies had disastrous effects reaching through to today

And Putin's will as well.

As Maya Angelou said "When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time"

If they're going out of their way to look like mad leaders, they're mad leaders.

[themaguffin]

2. Yes, but I'm referring to his over the top anti-commie/Soviet Union rhetoric

[Walleye]

3. They are now lying about it in the security council meeting of the UN.

According to them they never attacked the power plant, and the Ukrainians started the fire, and they were just defending themselves so they could guard the plant against the “Nazis”. I think Putin’s mental imbalance is real though. Those long tables really tell a story of paranoia. Plus I think he’s been abusing either drugs or steroids for a long time. And yes the Republicans’ bragging about how they “won” the Cold War contributed to this for sure. Just like rubbing Germany’s nose in their defeat after World War I contributed to World War II

[2naSalit]

4. +1

[TygrBright]

5. Nah, the eleventy-dimensional chess thing isn't very likely.

Ukraine's propaganda game has rolled over him doing way too much damage for it to be any kind of false flag, yadda yadda.

He's getting old, he uses steroids, he's showing clear signs of dementia.

certainly,
Bright

[themaguffin]

8. I'm not calling it chess

[AlexSFCA]

6. he is redefining the world order, the one in which he thinks Russia is with China

this must be particularly disturbing for Taiwan and South Korea.

[PortTack]

7. Hey "trying" to redefine the world order, what he did was unify all free nations against his tyranny

He set his cause back a decade or more.