Many in the West following the decision of more than 20 countries to expel Russian diplomats to show solidarity with the British think that Vladimir Putin has been driven into an untenable position and soon will be forced to back down in the face of this Western resolve, Irina Pavlova says.
But that is not how Putin views things, the U.S.-based Russian historian says. He doesn’t feel he is “trapped” but rather in a position to intensify his attacks on the West because he “considers himself smarter” than his Western counterparts and thus is “raising the stakes” in ways that the West has forgotten how to counter (ivpavlova.blogspot.com/2018/04/blog-post.html#more).