Putin did a lot of great things for Russia. I've never said otherwise. But since 2014 he hasn't been able to succeed. He surrounds himself with the same 'yes' men and has let the military become a shambles. The Admiral Kuznetsov is a joke. The Moskva sunk by a country without a real navy.

Whatever money he thought was going into the air force obviously didn't get there since Russia couldn't get air superiority over Ukraine.

300k+ a year has been emigrating from Russia since 2014. It's estimated at 1 million last year. But hey, if you love him you love him! We don't pick who we love.

Many Russian so not find him a hero. The opposite, they believe he has ruined their lives.

As for this all being the West's fault. That's seems to be why my Russian friends leave Russia. They don't like that fatalistic, not my fault, attitude. Failure is a way of life in the U.S. Criticism is a way of life. The culture is to suck it up and move on.

Every hero is taken down in the U.S. As long as the U.S. never lets one man run the country for 20 years it will all work out.

Americans should send a thank you letter to Putin. He's Exhibit A why you never want to pass a law where you can't call a "war" a "war". Where the leader hides in his bunker while young men die on the front.

A Cult of Personality has many advantages except one--when the leader runs of a cliff everyone follows to their death.