> the only thing that makes sense to me is that putin and his circle genuinely believe that power dynamics and spheres of influence are the true way of the world that's simply been obfuscated by the trappings of democracy.  that is a very good point i absolutely agree with. they're stuck in the geopolitics of the cold war. they can not understand (either on an individual or institutional level or both) that ua is not being groomed by the us to change from the ru sphere of influence towards the us sphere of influence. the truth, of course, is that such sphere's of influence no longer exist. we live in a world where a country can simultaneously a competitor and ally. one in which the brutal control over satellite states and grand narratives simply have given way to another way of thinking about just everyone except them prefers. and it's this thinking the eu applies. and they do not understand that either. this, exactly, is where the propaganda about us influence comes from. it exposes their inability to understand the eu countries motivations and substitutes them with anglosaksi control. > they believe themselves genius pragmatists who have defeated corruption and political instability by codifying them as parts of their system. they believe that poverty and ignorance are the natural state of the masses in which they are most fulfilled and that it is a net benefit to mankind that they ensure it. > they believe wealth and success have their own moral tribulations that only some, themselves, are equipped to face. > they genuinely believe they posses a mandate for dictating the state of their half of the world and that it is simply the natural order of things that russia governs the east, and they believe the natural order will assert itself as if by fate.  i am not sure about this. 1/2
Germany