Stop giving Putin credit for his intellect and some grandiose game plan against the weak West

The giants of Medium — like Umair Haque — keep painting this picture of Putin being some super-intelligent strategist; how everything, including the current terrible war in Ukraine, has been decades in the making; how Putin is taking advantage of the weak West.

Check out this story by Umair. Or read any of his other recent notes on Putin. There is a clear pattern of latent admiration of Putin’s villain superpowers, especially viz-a-viz the supposedly fragile and divided West. I’ve seen other authors do the same. Of course, they condemn Putin but they clearly express respect for Putin’s alleged intellect.

For one thing, optically it just doesn’t seem right to do it. I’m not suggesting that one should underestimate Putin. Absolutely, he’s a threat to Europe and the entire world for that matter. He’s already wreaked havoc. But it’s unnecessary to create this aura of mystery and latent admiration for Putin’s villain superpowers. If I were Putin and I read these stories about myself, I’d be quite pleased about the level of attention and respect. Putin doesn’t read Umair (probably!) but there is just no need to exaggerate the intellect of this insecure and delusional man.

Now, onto the substance.

The substance is that no one knows anything. It might sound like a strange claim but what I mean is that prior to Putin’s invasion of Ukraine and now, in the middle of it, there is a scenario…