> If the US attacked Canada ... would that be irrational?
No, because the US has the capability to invade Canada.
What's irrational about Putin is the self-defeating nature of his decision making. Both self-defeating for his country, as well as for the stability of his regime which translates into his personal safety.
He's embarrassed himself and his country, pushed Ukraine more towards the West, and achieved none of his strategic objectives.
I hope he is just behaving irrationally because of bad advice. The alternatives are more scary, because then the madman thing might not be an act.
I do think they were slightly involved. They invested a few billion dollars into pro-democracy organizations inside Ukraine, starting in the early 1990s, and held close diplomatic relations with Ukrainian politicians. None of this is abnormal, it's the standard practice of US soft influence.
But it's not even close to an exhaustive explanation. The Ukrainians have agency, they have their own media ecosystem, they are capable of forming their own opinions. They saw Putin as the dictatorial thug that he is. Putin achieved that by himself by invading Georgia, poisoning his opponents overseas, rigging elections and assassinating journalists.
Anyways, this isn't relevant to the question of Putin's rationality.
No, because the US has the capability to invade Canada.
What's irrational about Putin is the self-defeating nature of his decision making. Both self-defeating for his country, as well as for the stability of his regime which translates into his personal safety.
He's embarrassed himself and his country, pushed Ukraine more towards the West, and achieved none of his strategic objectives.
I hope he is just behaving irrationally because of bad advice. The alternatives are more scary, because then the madman thing might not be an act.