Who is calling Putin a genius. Not me. He is an adept leader of a powerful country with interests. Those are things you put into your calculus of what you can and should do.
Setting aside all the foreign policy blunders, I wish he could do something about his country's decaying economy. The failures of Kleptocracy remind us again that free market capitalism is the way to make things work best. His people deserve better, but they are probably going to have to wait until they have a more competent leader. I believe that someday that will happen for the Russian people.