"Autocrats tend to make very bad decisions. Democracies make bad decisions too, but the difference is that autocracies believe in the possibility of big, bold, decisive moves, and they don't have people who dare to warn them about all that can go wrong. There are sycophantic advisers who don't dare to criticize the autocratic leader. This can cause horrible outcomes.
"What's happened in Ukraine is a good
example of how autocrats make mistakes. This war was Putin's decision.
Putin had a theory about Ukraine, and did not confirm that theory with
real experts who would tell him that he was wrong. Putin believed that
Ukraine would crumble if pushed hard enough, and that turned out to be
very wrong." -- excerpt from an interview by Salon's Chauncey Devega of Lawrence Freedman, emeritus professor of war studies at King's College, UK. Freedman's observation is underscored daily by war criminal Putin's actions, including his willingness to play with nuclear fire.
