Dave: do not misread Putin. He was a career KGB officer; to better understand him you have to think like him.

How does a ‘police state’ official think? Fear, intimidation, and dominance. You let the unfortunate soul sitting in front of you know that he only exists at your sufferance. Non-compliance brings pain. The ‘Truth’ is less important than a neatly constructed ‘confession’. All of this is unfolding before you, if you’re willing to see it.

Don’t make the mistake of regarding him as a hungry thug; he dreams of a Russia dominant and absolute. He dreams of diminishing all who drove the USSR from it’s high seat on the world stage. At the same time he knows that the demons of…a low birth-rate, alcoholism, AIDS, and a hungry, rising China all await him in the shadows that surround him. He knows and trusts the tools that have served him well in his long career; until those tools fail him, he’ll behave no other way.

I would say more, but it’s bed time for me. Let the new day come and bring what it will.