you can't point to one thing...putin does what he does because of his background and training, and his experiences..., russians in general do what they do because of historical events, many of which require research if you aren't from the area. i've heard ten different "experts" espouse 20 different theories, and with limited knowledge of the people and their psychology, any of them could be correct for all i know, or all of them could be full of shit for all i know.
what counts is people dying for bad reasons...and at this point, putin is the bad reason
This is true. Also part of why I don't like examining the "who started it" chain of events especially when they go back a hundred years. At some point, it just doesn't matter.