pcr wants to know if the putin is the complete package as a ruler but has his doubts;

Is Putin Capable of Strategic Thinking?

Paul Craig Roberts

My doubts about Putin’s ability to think strategically go back to 2008. I have always been a defender of Putin in that the aggression is from Washington to Russia, not vice versa, and that Washington, not Putin, is responsible for the conflict in Ukraine.

Nevertheless, I had early doubts about Putin’s strategic vision.  He spoke as if he had vision, but he acted as if he did not. When the American trained Georgian Army crossed over into South Ossetia killing the population and Russian peacekeepers, Putin was at the Beijing Olympics, apparently totally unsuspecting and totally unprepared.  How could Putin not have known that the US, and according to some Israel, were training a Georgian army?  What did Putin think they were going to do with it?

After defeating the American trained army and conquering Georgia, Putin collected up his forces and returned to Russia without, apparently, securing any agreement that Georgia would stay clear of NATO and Western activities against Russia. I wondered about Putin’s failure in strategic thinking, but gave him the benefit of the doubt, thinking that Putin chose to demonstrate that he believed in non-interference in countries internal affairs and used the opportunity to demonstrate that he was not interested in reforming the Soviet Empire.......more.......