Day 5, Phase 2
The Sacrifice
As we attempted to point out diplomatically on Day 18 (Fred's Non-predictive Intelligence Floppery), Putin remains an irrational actor who is less well-grounded in reality than most world leaders. “Bounded rationality” is irrelevant for explaining the Russian leader’s decisions or actions.
This might explain my skepticism about the prospects for a ceasefire in the foreseeable future. The chatter in Istanbul yesterday reminded me of Tarkovsky’s final movie, The Sacrifice, specifically the bewildered reaction of the witch after the protagonist puts a gun to his temple.
“Don’t kill us.”
The jet fighters return… They make love…. And float above the bed.
So the story goes.
