[ledauphin]

it's not cringe to posit (yes, even in flowery language) that world leaders sometimes make decisions that don't resolve to pure dollars and cents. That mythos actually drives the hearts and minds of people all around the world including in Moscow.

[0x737368]

That's partially true for propaganda used to drive population's support, politicians of that caliber don't get to their positions by being hopeless romantics and idealists.

[unmole]

I don't think the idea is that Putin is a hopeless romantic. It's that he's a deranged megalomaniac.

[0x737368]

The reason you're thinking of him as "deranged" is because American propaganda would rather omit the reasons for going to war that I've listed in the parent comment because that would make NATO and therefore the US also partially to blame for what's happening in Ukraine.

I assure you - Putin is not deranged.

[unmole]

Reasons, sure. You can read what the man himself has to say: http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/66181

It is deranged megalomania run amok.