Putin is a rather interesting study. These figures emerge historically when there's a sort of perfect timing of ambition, capacity and opportunity. Young KGB officer, enters his prime years at the fall of the Soviet Union... he's well placed to know where the bodies are buried so to speak, he can make a lot of people rich, and they can, in turn, make him powerful. But this oligarchy is all a bit Game of Thrones, the stakes in post communist Russia don't change much from the communist era, the players don't simply win or lose, people get "disappeared." Getting and holding power and wealth remains a dangerous dance, and because it takes some talent to get to the top and stay there, it's hard to dismiss him as simply "mad"
It's cliche perhaps, but these are cliches for a reason.
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