Vladimir Putin has unleashed a war of militaries and also of narratives
Like Thrasymachus in Plato’s Republic, Vladimir Putin clearly believes that justice is whatever serves the interest of the strongest. It’s the code of the mafia godfather—and, for a supposed master manipulator of information, Putin has wasted little effort trying to cloak with fine ideals his application of brute force against Ukraine.
The pretext for the conflict—a “neo-Nazi” regime in Kyiv conducting “genocide” against ethnic Russians—seemed almost intentionally lame. No attempts were made to persuade or demoralize the public, either in Ukraine or in the Western democracies, ahead of what was to be the most egregious act of aggression in Europe in at least a generation. Even Russian troops at the front have often looked uncertain about the nature of their mission.
