I'm always baffled by the thought processes some use to evaluae Putin.
The bigest problem is people who don't speak Russian, and don't understand the Russian psyche...who hear translations of Putin's statements largely out of context in multiple ways.
The other problem is Americans, especially older Conservative Americans, still think Russian leaders all act like these guys.


I'm not defending the guy, but he's probably not stupid enough to give nukes to homicidal Islamic extremists. He's a lot closer to them than we are