Imagine constantly using doomsday threats as a cheat code to lengthen your stay at the world leadership table.<p>The cheat code might feel really cool to use, but eventually the cheat code starts to define you, including your past, present, and of course future-you, to an embarrassing degree (see quote at end of article).<p>(This is part of the reason why I believe Putin could have been effectively replaced by a PRNG and simplistic factor-weighting system resulting in more successful outcomes from as early as 2007. From at least 10-2022 I'm certain a system with no weighting at all could have done better for both Putin and Russia)