The question which The International Economy posed:Western experts have offered various explanations for Russian President Vladimir Putin’s actions in recent years. Some suggest Putin has been merely reacting to NATO and EU enlargement. Others suggest the Russian leader has succumbed to a bout of irrationality, spawned by a desire to return to the “good old days” of the Soviet Union. After all, according to historian Stephen Kotkin, traditional Soviet geopolitical thinking always assumed that Western capitalism would eventually disintegrate.Princeton Professor Harold James suggests Putin’s actions are based on the rational assumption that in the wake of the global financial crisis …read more
Source: American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research