Well, not Putin, actually. Another political leader noted for aggression in Eastern Europe. Orwell reviewed a book written by that leader and speculated on the reasons for his political success:
"[That guy], because in his own joyless mind he feels it with exceptional strength, knows that human beings don’t only want comfort, safety, short working-hours, hygiene, birth-control and, in general, common sense; they also, at least intermittently, want struggle and self-sacrifice, not to mention drums, flags and loyalty-parades."
I'm posting this quote because it seems to me that once again Western leaders (and everyone else) are making their characteristic mistake of assuming every other leader (and every other population) want what they want. Right now you see endless Tweets, headlines, and pundits calling Putin "mad."
Nope. He's no more mad than [That guy] was. He just doesn't share our motivations. For all our professed love of diversity and tolerance we are abysmally bad at actually understanding people who don't share our Enlightenment-era Anglosphere way of thinking. We've seen this in the Middle East, we've seen it in Asia, we've seen it in Latin America, we've seen it in Africa.
Sanctions and speeches and hashtags and Facebook banners aren't going to stop this. We need to help Ukraine with tangible, physical aid — or admit to ourselves that this is just a lot of feel-good posturing to compensate for our impotence.
Oh, and keep an eye on the Taiwan Strait . . .
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