Good intentions aside, good men can, and will, often fail. Mistakes, sometimes profound and at great cost to innocents, actions that bring interminable regret, are part of every decent and reflective leader’s tenure.

To lead is to choose. Not all choices made are the right ones. Oftentimes, there is no good choice. All is the stuff of legacy, the viscera of which all decent leaders must contemplate and contend.

The autocratic, the corrupt, make no mistakes. All is deliberate. Vladimir Putin is the latter.