[Mistletoe]

Luckily being 73 and in what appears to be poor health can’t last forever. I can’t imagine spending my twilight years being one of the most hated people on the planet, but the head of the USA and Russia seem to have no issues with that.

“Father Time is undefeated.” - LeBron James

[Jolter]

Hoping for Putin to get sick is unhelpful. Trump is still in power well past 80, after all. We would do better to plan for a future where Putin rules Russia for another 10-15 years.

[adabyron]

Trump is 80. Putin is 73.

[petre]

The poor health thing "Putin is sick" was a FSB psy-op. Maybe he's sick in the head but otherwise in good health.

[icantevenhold]

He does look a lot better than his American counterpart

[alt227]

Putin is a lot more careful about the image he projects and his public appearances than trump.

[simonh]

Why would Putin want people to think that Putin is sick or infirm, and his ability to lead might be compromised? His entire schtick is that he's a strongman leader and the only reliable option in Russia.

[petre]

It's basically targeted maketing. They pretty much wanted the West lethargic and unreactive at some point early in the war. Like "don't bother sending aid to Ukraine because Putin is kicking the bucket soon" kind of a narrative.

In Russia yes, they project the strongman narrative.

[simonh]

I’d have thought the effect would be the opposite. Support Ukraine because it’s only going to be a short war, as Russia will be giving up soon, so why let them get conquered?