Putin isn't really crazy. He's evil and power-hungry. He is cold and calculating. He still thinks and acts like a KGB agent.
He's terrified he'll share the same fate as the Tsars. The photo below shows how someone threw red dye in front of "The Church of the Savior of Spilled Blood" in St. Petersburg, where the last of the Romanovs, Alexander II was assassinated. A clear message to Vlady.
As the world gets smaller through technology he fears the eventual democratization of Russia, which an expanding NATO hastens. He believes resource-rich Ukraine will become even more anti-Russia and sees it strengthening militarily.
For Putin, the costs of escalation are greater than the costs of inaction. He doesn't give a rip about his or Russia's standing in the global community.
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