No, Jemma, Putin is neither a nutcase nor a psychopath as you would know if you actually followed what he says.
I have to post this from time to time because people don't seem to know, but the country Putin is extremely anti is the US. That's because in the 1990s they used the collapse of the Soviet Union and the arrival of Yeltsin to move in, forge alliances with the nomenklatura, and loot the country. In 1996 they helped get Yeltsin re-elected and boasted about it. In 1998 the ruble collapsed and people lost their entire savings, just as people did in Germany in the 1920s. Whether you're a babushka on an inadequate pension or your children having to help her financially, you hate the US. Fortunately, the RF got Putin rather than Hitler II. He is not nice. Nor was Churchill (look him up).
I suspect he rarely gives the UK much attention except to wonder what to do about the kleptarchs who fled here when he started trying to get the loot back and were fast tracked into citizenship (a few large donations to the Conservatives did no harm).
From what I can see, the Russian government wants to do the US down. If they did affect the US election and got Trump, that was a small victory for them.
The point is, I think Putin is a sane actor who has got a lot of what he wanted in Syria, and who can be negotiated with, whereas Trump cannot be negotiated with because he has no consistency and his goals are unachievable. Even Erdogan seems a lot more rational.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
