the 'Elites' are not smart

[Steppenwolf]

but putin is also member of the elite

just an opposing faction

how can you not see that?

he makes the lives of people in Russia miserable

if he wasn't then there would be no longer Russian people in the first place. subjecting any country sovereignty to be silently overthrown in exchange to be the mini-state of the US causes exactly what's happening to Germany

Dictators often make use of the patriotic and religious sentiments of the people in order to rise and stay in power. They make use of this false dichotomy very often, too. See Erdogan, Assad.

I also fail to see how Germany is a mini-state of the US. Maybe you as an outsider don't have a clear view of their independent economic policies and only see them aligning geopolitically and assume everyone is a US puppet. Why would anyone not want to be a military ally of the strongest country on earth? lol

this is like saying Japan wanted to be the 'ally' of the US