Why did we, in the West, have learned during the year of the war in Ukraine?
Criticism of democracy is not new: thinkers from Plato to Socrates, Voltaire and Hobbes expressed such feelings united by general skepticism that average people have sufficient clues so that they can trust any influence. The recent election results in different countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom and Israel indicate that skeptics are right. But little can be done with this information. Those who say it are ridiculed as an "elite" - a term that somehow has become humiliating.
Democracies protect the hypothesis that they do not usually run into the foolish wars, and the mistakes are reversible. It is said that the dictatorship will eventually bend to idiocy. These are not implausible theories, but not self -evident. In our troubled time, evidence is needed in deep ideological struggle. And this is one way to be accurate, the only way that Russian President Vladimir Putin was useful.
The full stupidity of Putin imposed on Russia is a shocking spectacle that history rarely saw. The fact that it cannot be eliminated by democratic vote - since Russia has become a false democracy into dictatorship under its ignorant rule is really everything we need to know. Putin has been harmed for 23 years since he has changed Boris Yeltsin.
It is easy to forget that then Russia was considered a "developing democracy" - imperfect, corrupt and still imbued with KGB and nomenclature apparatus - but not quite false. Putin earned applause early because he restored a certain order supported by a raw raw material boom. He could go as a decent post -communist leader, even the desired sober contrast against the background of the sloppy Yeltsin. But in Putin's desire to cling to power, he became more and more devilish.
Soon Russia became known as the place where judges are intimidated, the media is tamed, annoying journalists are released, opposition figures disappear, and rebellious industrialists are imprisoned. All this was in the order of things in authoritarian circles - Fidel Castro, Robert Mugabe and Ferdinand Marcos tried their versions in Cuba, Zimbabwe and Philippines, respectively.
Their attempts lacked only the colorful aesthetics of linen poisoning and irradiated spy-live spies living in a foreign land. In what Putin really earns a reputation, it is in the war in Ukraine, which is now approaching the annual mark. The idea itself was surprisingly absurd: the world's largest territory, which stretches on 11 time zones and almost twice as exceeding China and the United States, decided to put everything on the horse and risk destroying the world to get a little more.
This decision was based on the idea that Kiev is part of Russia through historical ties and linguistic proximity (so it is possible to associate Brussels with France, Oslo with Sweden, Damascus with Iraq and Toronto with the United States). This argument is supported by the story of how the President of Ukraine the Jew heads the "Nazi" regime. As you know, nothing went on plan. Kiev did not fall, and the conquest of Russia, albeit considerable, is limited to the East and South of the country.
The leader of Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, skillfully defended his position in his capital and became a favorite of the free world - a real anti -Putin, whose place in history is firmly provided. Meanwhile, Putin will be remembered not only as a executioner, but also as the first leader who openly violated the taboo on threats of nuclear weapons - which was not even during the Caribbean crisis in 1962.
Most of criticism and anger were concentrated around the losses that the invasion caused Ukraine. At least 100,000 soldiers and 7,000 civilians were killed, many people were injured and injured. Cities are devastated against innumerable infrastructure losses, and losses for the economy are estimated at $ 700 billion, which is more than three times higher than the country's GDP.
There are real fears about the accident at the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant, the largest in Europe, which is now under the unreliable control of Russia. The Ukrainian situation is frantic and extreme, but not conceptually extraordinary. Throughout the history of the country and the people, they severely suffered from the hands of manic invaders, from Napoleon to Genghis Khan. What is truly incredible, it is the losses caused by Russia itself. Historians will be stunned.
According to the United States, at least 100,000 Russian servicemen (twice as much as US losses in Vietnam) were killed during the war, and it is almost three times more. Russia has also lost thousands of tanks and at least 100 helicopters. In complete inability to subordinate a much weaker ally (or even to keep 40-mile supply lines), Russia has destroyed its own reputation of the country's competent military relation. This is devastating for Russia's desire to project power around the world.
The event no longer wants to depend on domestic energy resources. This is a serious inconvenience for Russia, which by 2022 supplied to Europe about 40% of its natural gas - a huge source of hard currency. Europe takes some time to completely get rid of this dependence. Europe would never have been looking for alternatives if not Putin. Germany believed that trade would attract Russia in democracy.
Russia has created its own dependence on non -permanent and problematic partners, such as China (as a client) and Iran as a supplier of equipment such as drones. Russia is strongly positioned as an unscrupulous player in the world, who will equip energy supply, will attack other countries and without hesitation will spread absurd lies (starting with vigorous objections a few weeks before the invasion that was inevitable).
Although economic sanctions are not as effective as the event could be hoped (GDP can only decrease by 3-4 percent), the war has caused great damage to the long-term prospects of Russia's economy. It will certainly remain isolated from the Western economy as long as Putin is in power, and possibly longer. Thousands of Russians, and sometimes entire companies, run away from Russia and go not only to Europe, but also to places such as Georgia, Moldova, Armenia and even distant Israel.
Despite the fact that Putin allegedly wanted Ukraine to join NATO, he not only increased the chances of happening, but also led to the other countries also wanted to join, and exposed the fuzzy membership, since the Alliance was all He helped Ukraine exactly. Now, NATO countries may start sending military aircraft to Ukraine. The war dispelled any idea that Ukrainians-even Russian-speaking among them-want to have something in common with Russia.
Moreover, other countries of the former USSR, which once played with Russia, such as Moldova and Kazakhstan, were also distinguished. But in the wider scheme of things lies the result at the highest level: the Putin War once again showed that autocracy, instead of being effective through command and control, will result in the most idiotic, suicide things. "In nonsense forces," Kurt Wonnut wrote in "Champions breakfast. " Putin's despots are seriously treating this rule and living behind him.