Putin makes proposals and threatens consequences if those proposals are not taken seriously. The U.S. and NATO do not take the proposals seriously and Putin’s consequences materialize. That’s because he’s crazy. From Vasko Kohlmayer at lewrockwell.com:
“Putin Plays The MadMan Card In Ukraine” announces a Forbes headline from Tuesday.
“An increasingly Frustrated Putin, A Madman With Nuclear Weapons, Is Lashing Out At His Inner Circle” we learn from Vanity Fair.
“US envoy to Israel calls Putin a ‘madman’” we read in the Times of Israel.
Ever since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the western public has been carpet bombed with the claim that Russian president Vladimir Putin is some sort of unhinged madman. This notion is being feverishly spread by the establishment and those in its pay: the political class, the media and the commentariat, career diplomats and technocrats as well as those connected to the security and intelligence communities.
The most remarkable thing about the Mad Vlad claim is that it is obviously false.
Whatever Vladimir Putin may be, he is certainly no madman. This much should be obvious to everyone with eyes to see.
A former KGB colonel, Vladimir Putin is a wily operator of demonstrated ability. After all, he managed to bring control and order to a vast country which was largely in disarray when he took over at the age of 48. He adroitly managed to keep himself in power for over two decades while navigating and overcoming a number of crises and challenges along the way. Through it all, he has shown himself to be intelligent, steel-willed, calculating, shrewd, self-controlled, determined and patient.
These are hardly the qualities of a lunatic.
We have dealt with Putin for 22 years and during that whole time no one seriously suggested or maintained that he was crazy. Quite to the contrary, for almost a decade after his ascent he was viewed as a capable man of considerable talents.
For years the Western establishment considered Putin a “man with whom we could do business.” He was seen as “liberal, humane, and decent European.” He was described as a person of “’alert, controlled poise’ and ‘well-briefed acuity,’ who was open to anything, even Russia joining NATO.”
And yet less than a week ago, on the day he invaded Ukraine, Vladimir Putin was nearly unanimously declared – contrary to all evidence of the past twenty years – a “madman” by members of the Western establishment.
The question is, why did they decide to suddenly gaslight and brainwash people with such a patent lie that so obviously contravenes reality?
Here is the answer: They did this to hide and conceal the gargantuan blunder they have committed over Ukraine.
