Putin’s Motives Rooted in History Remain a Mystery Abroad
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As tensions between Russia and the West grew more heated with Vladimir Putin’s rapid move today toward absorbing Crimea into Russia, his actions and motives remain opaque to U.S. officials.
Some in the U.S., including former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, have dismissed the Russian president as “delusional” or intent on recreating the Soviet Union. Others, including former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, see President Putin taking his strategic cues from Adolf Hitler’s 1930’s playbook to undermine Eastern European stability and the post-Cold War order.