Russian unity and Western discord converge in Putin's imagination

Putin is obviously following European and US policy-making, but his portrait of a decadent, declining West is extremely detached from the reality of Western determination to defeat Russian aggression. Similarly, the wishful vision in the Kremlin of a Russian society eager to indefinitely continue the war effort is seriously distorted, and every bit of evidence on deepening discontent produces a spasm of angst and an urge to erase the disagreeable truth (see EDM, February 26, February 29). These basic misconceptions will guide the Kremlin’s strategy for perpetuating the war. In reality, this course condemns Russia to degradation. Hope was not buried, however, at a small cemetery on Moscow’s outskirts, and opposition alternatives exist. A new surge in Western aid will empower Ukraine to regain initiative, and it will then become clear that time is not on Putin’s side, and that his defeat will be a liberation, not a catastrophe.