One year ago today, Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The despot anticipated a quick triumph. But as we now know, Putin’s spectacular miscalculation grinds on and on, exacting an ever-larger toll of lost Ukranian and Russian lives and forcing millions of people to flee their homes.
One year in, Putin’s folly — which now includes nuclear saber-rattling — continues to destabilize the broader region while drawing indirect participation from other nations via weapon supplies and other support or sanctions. The economic damage, including within Russia itself, is immense and increasingly global.
How this ends is anybody’s guess. It’s certain, though, that the terms quickly, easily and painlessly won’t apply.
The possible explanations for Putin’s war tend to reach back in history. But the biggest lesson to be drawn from history regards the never-ending willingness of vainglorious individuals in positions of great power to sacrifice other people’s lives in attempts to boost their own ego.
Here we go again.
One man. A world of woe.
Vladimir Putin needs to go.