Post

Putin has no ideology; he is, in fact, an intellectually unsophisticated person. His entire political worldview rests on two very simple narratives. 1/9

One is that the West is waging an eternal war against Russia. The other is that Ukraine is merely an instrument of the West in the current episode of the perennial anti-Russian war. 2/9

In my recent essay, I traced the origins of these ideas to Putin’s teenage years and his fascination with Soviet spy thrillers, showing how his KGB service and specific events later solidified that basic worldview: shekhovtsov.substack.com/p/putins-gen... 3/9

Yet despite their simplicity, these notions are deadly. If Ukraine is seen as an instrument of the West in its perennial war against Russia, then the Russian leadership views it as an imperative to destroy that instrument – thereby striking an indirect blow against the West itself. 5/9

Such a blow, in their logic, would inevitably weaken the West and improve the prospects for further Russian retaliatory efforts. 6/9

Ukraine is therefore not the primary target of Russia’s geopolitical revisionism – the West is. The destruction of Ukraine is merely a means of striking at the West without confronting it directly. 7/9

If this is the case, it makes sense for Europe to step up and be an enemy to Russia it cannot handle. It can start by making the cost of winning in Ukraine prohibitive, even if Russia is willing to pay it.