Here is a good article that helps put Putin/Russia in context:
https://www.commentarymagazine.com/arti ... orgetting/
I think there is some truth to the generational gap occurring in understanding. It is also exacerbated by the mind staggering ease with which information can be moved around. Unfortunately, the younger folks are, the less they understand the power and value of information. Especially, how misinformation can shape and control. It is ironic to me that in the age of the most powerful ability ever to share truth, we instead use this power to spread untruth. I think this is resident in the "consumerist" approach to life that is the norm for younger folks. The concept that they don't need to take time to digest something and partake of its value. Instead, to continue the food allegory, they prefer driveby buffets where they selectively binge on things they like, and ignore the rest. And in the act of the binge, don't take time to actually understand what they are eating tastes like, or whether or not it has nutritional value. The speed of information, while extremely supportive of propagandist agendas, is also the dearth of desire to consider and reflect on what one has read or experienced. Instead, it seems to be breeding a desire to skip through the tuplips, and not actually stop and experience them. Thinking is not required, and in fact, it seems more and more folks are stopping thinking for themselves, and becoming deluded with a buffet selection of other's thoughts (who are trying to drive and agenda), and believing they are their own.
Independent thought is being crushed by the sheer volume (both quantity and loudness) of shallow thinkers. This is what makes propaganda work; failure to question its veracity.
This is how Putin prefers to fight. He claims direct confrontation, but when you actually pay attention, he operates from the oblique, and is afraid of direct confrontation. He will bark a lot, make like he will punch you in the face, but then seek to have a 'friend' stab you in the kidney while you are in the bathroom later. He is a classic smart bully.
The development of atomic power, though it could confer unimaginable blessings on mankind, is something that is dreaded by the owners of coal mines and oil wells. (Hazlitt)
What I want to do is to look up C. . . . I call him the Forgotten Man. (Sumner)