How has the Ukraine crisis affected political life in the West? Deeply but contradictorily. Vladimir Putin’s invasion wakened sleeping populations to eternal power realities, exacerbated leftist de-platforming, and bizarrely enhanced his appeal on the Right.
Power realities: A century-long peace following the Napoleonic wars left Europeans mentally unprepared for the carnage of World War I; similarly, the 77-year peace after World War II bred a faulty European assumption that trade and diplomacy could solve the continent’s problems. Military strength was seen as anachronistic as slavery. Slogans such as “There is no military solution” and “War never solved anything” prevailed.
Meanwhile, the non-West remains focused on the timeless verities of military might.
