Nukes will not save Putin. You can't unleash WMDs on Ukraine. You can't unleash WMDs on the Russian masses. I don't see how this can end well for Putin. This is the beginning of the end of the Putin regime inside Russia. But Ukraine will pay a terrible price in the process.
I think Putin's smart move as he sees it is to not occupy Ukraine. Attack, destroy major military installations, but not occupy. To what end?
Putin Is Making a Historic Mistake Whereas Mr. Yeltsin had cajoled, blustered and flattered, Mr. Putin spoke unemotionally and without notes about his determination to resurrect Russia’s economy and quash Chechen rebels. Flying home, I recorded my impressions. “Putin is small and pale,” I wrote, “so cold as to be almost reptilian.” .......... He claimed to understand why the Berlin Wall had to fall but had not expected the whole Soviet Union to collapse. “Putin is embarrassed by what happened to his country and determined to restore its greatness.” .......... After calling Ukrainian statehood a fiction in a bizarre televised address ......... Because he believes that the United States dominates its own region by force, he thinks Russia has the same right. ......... Instead of paving Russia’s path to greatness, invading Ukraine would ensure Mr. Putin’s infamy by leaving his country diplomatically isolated, economically crippled and strategically vulnerable in the face of a stronger, more united Western alliance. .......... it would generate fierce Ukrainian armed resistance ....... it would be a scenario reminiscent of the Soviet Union’s ill-fated occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s. ........ his competition of choice is not chess, as some assume, but rather judo .......... the current confrontation has left him even more dependent on China ....... America must insist that Russia act in accordance with international standards applicable to all nations. ......... Ukraine is entitled to its sovereignty, no matter who its neighbors happen to be.
How to Respond to Putin’s Attack on Ukraine Vladimir Putin has declared war on Ukraine based on three outrageous lies: that Ukraine does not have a right to exist separate from Russia, that Ukraine is committing atrocities against Russian-speaking people, and that the Russian military needs to “de-Nazify” Ukraine (whose president, Volodymyr Zelensky, is Jewish).
Dictators Aren’t Pretending Anymore The democratic recession is so severe that autocrats now openly stage coups, steal elections, and invade other countries. ........ Then he ordered a full-scale attack on a sovereign nation. Russian missiles blew up targets in key cities including Kyiv, Lviv, and Kharkiv. Russian troops rapidly advanced into Ukrainian territory. War has returned to the heart of Europe. ....... the world has entered the 16th consecutive year of what the political scientist Larry Diamond has termed a “democratic recession.” In 2021, the number of countries moving away from democracy once again exceeded the number of countries moving toward it by a big margin. ........... Democratic institutions and civil rights deteriorated in 60 countries ......... At the beginning of the democratic recession, about half of the world’s population lived in a country classified as “free.” Now only two out of every 10 people do, while four in 10 live in “partly free” nations like India, and another four in 10 live in “unfree” nations like Saudi Arabia. .............. Over the past few decades, however, aspiring dictators generally came to power through the ballot box, winning (relatively) free and fair elections. Only then did they start to concentrate power in their own hands, undermining independent institutions and curtailing free expression to such an extent that they could no longer be removed from office by democratic means. ............ In the United States and much of Western Europe, the current crisis is mostly about what political scientists call “democratic backsliding”: the weakening of democratic institutions in countries that have long enjoyed them. But around the globe, the most striking aspect of the current moment may be “democratic despondency”: The number of countries aspiring to democracy has fallen to a record low. ........... the power of the democratic world is being challenged by a rising China and a revanchist Russia; the world’s dictators can turn to resurgent authoritarian regimes for economic investments, military supplies, and international legitimacy.
Anti-war Protests in Russia On Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an invasion of Ukraine, launching missiles and sending thousands of troops across its borders. Following the attack, protests erupted in countries around the world—including Russia. Hundreds of people gathered in Moscow, Saint Petersburg, and other Russian cities to demonstrate against their government’s actions, and calling for an end to the war. Most of these protests were disrupted by police, and many of the demonstrators were detained.
How China Under Xi Jinping Is Turning Away From the World Global engagement has helped the nation prosper. But now, its leader seems intent on recasting the meeting of minds and cultures as a zero-sum clash............ The miracle of modern China was built on global connections, a belief that sending young people, companies and future leaders to soak up the outside world was the route from impoverishment to power. Now, emboldened by its transformation, the country is shunning the influences and ideas that nourished its rise. ........... Anything seen as — or, increasingly, tarred as — foreign is vulnerable to attack by vitriolic online nationalists. Celebrities promoting vegetarianism have been accused of peddling Western lifestyles. ............. After the Communists took power in 1949, the first Americans to officially enter China, decades later, were nine table tennis players. ........... More than 6.5 million Chinese studied abroad between 1978 and 2019, with the number rising each year. Chinese tech companies listed on Wall Street, their innovations copied by Silicon Valley. Schoolteachers used songs by Western boy bands to teach English, seen as vital for economic opportunities. ........ Between 2002 and 2018, the number of international students in China grew nearly sixfold. ........ Wariness lingered. Deng Xiaoping, the leader who spearheaded the economic opening, memorably warned that an open window brings both fresh air and flies. ......... Increasing hostility from the United States also prodded Chinese leaders into a more defensive posture. ........ Bent on stamping out infections, China canceled virtually all international flights. State media fixated on the West’s death toll. ......... The number of foreigners living in Beijing and Shanghai has dropped by nearly one-third in the past decade ......... First-timers sometimes came nervously, with concerns and misconceptions about government surveillance. But they left impressed by the high-speed trains and safe cities. Some returned for family vacations. ......... While American films once often sat atop the Chinese box office, domestic ones now dominate. Local fashion designers, long dismissed as second-rate, command higher prices. ........... he plans to use a virtual private network to access blocked overseas websites after moving back.
The Invasion of Ukraine: How Russia Attacked and What Happens Next Explosions thundered in Ukrainian cities shortly after President Vladimir V. Putin declared the start of a “special military operation.” ............ Explosions thundered in the dim light before dawn, minutes after President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia cynically declared the start of a “special military operation” to “demilitarize” Ukraine but not occupy the country. ................ Ukrainians had hoped for months that the forecasts of an invasion from Russia, a nation with which they share much history and culture, could not be true. But on Thursday they awoke to its dire reality. .............. Russian forces destroyed more than 70 military targets in Ukraine, including 11 airfields, three command points and a naval base ............ Explosions were reported in Kyiv, including at the capital’s airport. Russia said its forces had disabled all of Ukraine’s air defenses and air bases, while Ukraine’s military said it had shot down six Russian planes and one helicopter. ............... He has expressed a sense of humiliation at the collapse of the Soviet Union and grievance at how the West filled the void. .......... In 2008, NATO said Ukraine and Georgia, both former Soviet states, could also join, without detailing when or how that would happen. For Mr. Putin, that crossed a red line. .............. The country has written into its constitution a goal of joining NATO. ......... have doubts about the strength of the rule of law in Ukraine, a young democracy with extensive corruption.
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