When I say he is a rational actor, I agree that is he a rational actor in his own mind; but he also believes he is behaving rationally in his role as the leader of Russia. And, the majority of Russians also believe he is acting rationally. he is “defending” them from what they all believe to be that great big conspiracy against them. No one ever wants to admit that they are the cause of their own problems. It’s always safer to blame someone else especially when you really don’t want to do anything about the problem. No one in Russia really wants to fix things because it is a society that has zero understanding of civil society or a communal “let’s pitch in and fix this mentality.” It has always been and will be even more so now a every man for himself approach. I recently took a hard spill on the sidewalk in St. Petersburg due to the lack of ice removal and people just strolled past. The three 20-somethings just kind of giggled and looked back at me. I am not saying all Russians would walk by but 9 out of 10 definitely. I have also begun to hear from Putin-supporting friends in Russia that “what is happening now was bound to happen. You guys pushed us too far and so now you he is making you pay for it.” “He,” not them…they are never to blame and “he” is doing their dirty work and they respect him for it; and then, as things get a lot worse and the hardships settle in, they will revert to the national default mode: woe is us…but it seems, after 27 years of living among them, that Russian are their happiest when miserable. (