Putin is a rational actor. The western media will and does refuse to show any information that would even slightly justify Putin's actions, or even make his actions seem rationally evil, which is why so many people here are thinking he's a crazy power drunken fool. Did you see any of his speeches air in our media, even parts of it? Did you see any Russian press releases describing any amount of why or how? Did you see any explanation from China about why they support this and to what degree? Most likely you saw none of this, and therefore think Putin is a madman.

The war propaganda right now is incredibly dense from both sides, and each side sees only their side. But no, he's not a crazy person, he's the leader of Russia making a play.