fab fabricator and doesn't even really make much pretense anymore about what his troops are doing? >> well, he makes the pretense, this is why he's banning media from operating inside russia or ukraine, he doesn't want footage of civilian buildings and people getting bombed out which is now happening pretty much every other day if you watch the pattern, the trajectory of this war on the ground. the media has rallied around this, you know, putin is an evil autocrat or a dictator, and volodymyr zelenskyy is a hero for the free world. both of those things are categorically true. i don't think it's possible anymore to suss out what is going on inside putin's mind, to will's point. a lot of people spend a lot of time trying to do this. those who know him best, by which i mean those here in the west who have worked with him for decades, are saying he is no longer a rational actor, he can no longer be counted on to act in his or his country's best interests. howard: yeah, he does.