There is a big question mark over whether Putin is mad, super-intelligent or somewhere in between. Anyway, he has sent the troops into Ukraine to take over the country; to annex the country to Russia because he thinks that Ukraine should be part of Russia.  I believe that he has had aspirations to include Ukraine as part of Russia for a very long time. That is why I believe all the diplomacy and negotiations which have taken place over the past few months have been a complete waste of time. His mind was set and there was no turning back. In fact, it was impossible for Putin to turn back once he was on that path. To turn back would be losing face. It would be a sign of defeat before he had even started.  There has been a lot of discussion in The Times newspaper about whether he is genuinely slightly mad at least. He has been isolated for quite a long time partly because of Covid. In addition, he has a small group of advisers around him some of them going back to his KGB ...