The “madman” theory is a long-standing political trope, redolent of Cold War-era rivalries. The idea is to throw opponents off balance by making them believe you are so volatile, so hostile and so irrational that there’s simply no telling what you might do next.
As Europe’s largest land battle in decades rages in Ukraine, world leaders and diplomats, intelligence analysts and Kremlin-watchers are all trying to decipher Russian President Vladimir Putin’s mental state, particularly in light of his latest nuclear saber rattling.
Is he genuinely unbalanced, they ask, or just letting everyone think he is? Or some combination of the two? Or something else?
