Putin is not a mad dog. He is a very cool, measured and purposeful, if ruthless, dog who never takes his eyes off the ball.
In fact I think he is cool and cunning enough to use the mad dog image western propaganda created of him against the west, and exploit the fact that such an image makes the population in west fearful of confronting a nuclear armed Russia led by him.
The more the west play up the image of a bogeymen Putin building back up the Soviet Empire and existentially threatening NATO allies Poland and Baltic republics, the more the memory of Soviet world-ending nuclear arsenal would inhibit western action.
In fact I think he is cool and cunning enough to use the mad dog image western propaganda created of him against the west, and exploit the fact that such an image makes the population in west fearful of confronting a nuclear armed Russia led by him.
The more the west play up the image of a bogeymen Putin building back up the Soviet Empire and existentially threatening NATO allies Poland and Baltic republics, the more the memory of Soviet world-ending nuclear arsenal would inhibit western action.
