Humans don’t have to do such things. We can retire and step aside, allowing the new generation to take over as the elder generation to sit and relax for the rest of their lives. But power is intoxicating, and even old men will grasp at it and try to seize control when they should be sipping margaritas on a beach. For some, it’s about legacy, for some it’s pride, for some, it’s unfulfilled ambitions.

Either way, it rarely results in anything good, especially when this quest for power happens on a national scale.

For instance, Vladimir Putin appears to be closer to Joe Biden’s senility than one might think.

Putin is known for being a ruthless but clever man. As a statement, many would say he’s absolutely brilliant. He’s a man who knows how to hold onto power even when he doesn’t have it and any leader who doesn’t keep an eye on his movements and schemes will soon find himself overwhelmed and outplayed.

It happened to Biden very easily.

But like Biden, Putin is getting rather old and even before the war with Ukraine started, rumors were floating around about his mental state. There was talk about his growing paranoia and isolation. He has an overreliance on “yes men” and seems to believe he’s the only voice in the room worth listening to.

They would be easily dismissed but then the war with Ukraine kicked off and it’s not going nearly as well as planned. Judging by reports the Russian military, an internationally feared presence on the world stage, is being upset by the nation of Ukraine whose army consists of quite a few normal citizens. On Reddit, constant posts and videos are coming in of Russian soldiers being held by civilians, many of them very young men scared out of their minds. Russian equipment looks old and worn. Today, there was even a video of a Ukrainian farmer who found an abandoned Russian surface-to-air missile truck and towed it home with his tractor.

This isn’t exactly the army we were expecting. It looks unprepared, unmotivated, and ill-equipped. It might be that this wasn’t the wisest decision because the man making the decision has lost the benefit of wisdom. According to Fox News, the rumors surrounding Putin’s oncoming senility have been reinforced:

Senior intelligence officials who have known Putin for decades told Fox News that he has been isolated for months at his presidential compound interacting exclusively with a small group of advisers and cronies.

A senior national security official under President Donald Trump, who asked for anonymity, said when Putin met with French President Emmanuel Macron earlier this month, he seemed “paranoid” and “unwilling to listen to reason.”

During the meeting in Moscow, the men sat across an absurdly long marble table, as Macron tried to persuade Putin to stand down. After the failed effort at intervention, Macron privately described Putin as “more rigid, more isolated and fundamentally lost in a sort of ideological and security drift,” according to a senior French official.

It’s a tale as old as time. A powerful leader becomes old and begins acting erratically.

The only issue is that right now, these erratic old men are getting people killed. Biden isn’t protecting our border and criminal elements are streaming across nearly unhindered. Putin is throwing his own people across the Ukrainian border either to kill or be killed. Biden is destroying the economy and Putin’s decisions will destroy his.

We’re seeing unnecessary destruction as a result of odd decisions made by men well past their prime. It’s time to turn the page.