Putin's Long Descent (Post 2)

Photo Credit: Euromaidan Press

Having written my last post on "Putin's Long Descent", Foreign Policy has an excellent article this week by Mark Galeotti, visiting fellow with the European Council on Foreign Relations, that makes the same point that Putin's tactical successes are not translating into strategic gains, including that,

"The Russian president’s tactical instincts for how to seize an opportunity are so brilliant, and yet the strategic outcomes are almost invariably disastrous."

 and

"The Kremlin’s problem, among others, is that Putin the Opportunist is consumed by the moment. He is focused on what he can accomplish tomorrow, without necessarily thinking through to what the consequences may be the day after. He also too easily assumes that he will remain in control of what he started..."

The Foreign Policy article rightly points out that, in my words, Putin's successes are not victories and they cost more than they are worth.  There is a pattern here.  Putin’s tactical successes to date do not translate into strategic gains due to his penchant for miscalculation.  (Putin's Long Descent)