One year and one hundred and fifty-six days of war have passed. ISW maps do not record any noticeable changes in the front line over the past twenty-four hours. There is fierce fighting everywhere, but it has yet to translate into any meaningful advancement.
There is nothing to write about in the last couple of days. Everything has turned into a kind of dragging swamp. But Putin has been saving the situation for days now. And today he again did not let us get bored and rocked out to the fullest. Today he gave out some cosmic pearl. He said that:
– he doesn’t know who Kagarlitsky and Berkovich are and he hears these names for the first time in his life;
– he has no idea what these people have done and why his security forces put them in prison;
– but he is absolutely sure that in Ukraine, what Kagarlitsky and Berkovich did is punishable by firing squads.
Do you realize what hell is in his head? He is sure that in Ukraine people are shot for something (he doesn’t know what it is), which (judging by the intonation of the question) is connected with their opposition to the current government in Kyiv.
The day before, he claimed that there are politicians in Poland (he says: and we all know them very well!) who publicly, without hiding, as a matter of course, talk about the need for Western Ukraine to join Poland.
Of course, neither in the case of political shootings in Ukraine, nor in the case of politicians in Poland demanding the annexation of Western Ukraine, he does not give any facts, does not name names, and does not bother to show evidence of what he is talking about.
This is understandable: there are simply no such facts. But he is sure that they are. Because in his picture of the world they cannot not be. In his picture of the world, all people are organized the same way he is. And all countries are organized like Russia. And if that’s the case, then Poland can’t help but want to grab a piece of someone else’s territory. (Because Russia does!). And Zelensky can’t help but kill his political opponents. (Because Putin does!).
For example, Columbus had never been to America. But he firmly believed that the Earth is round, and if you sail west for a long time, sooner or later you will reach some land. Either India or something else. That is, Columbus’ picture of the world was such that he boldly got into a 26-meter long caravel and sailed westward on the ocean, where no one had sailed before him.
And so is Putin. His picture of the world is such that he can construct any event in his imagination because he knows how the world works. He is convinced that facts don’t matter. And so he doesn’t cite them. But he assumes that they can’t not exist. He just hasn’t given himself the trouble to find them out. But they must surely exist. And since they do, there is no point in finding out the facts.
For example, you know that there is a law of universal gravitation. But you do not search for facts proving the existence of universal gravitation. It’s enough for you to know that it exists. And if it does, then there must be facts.
This is the main problem of the present: Putin’s picture of the world is dramatically disconnected from reality. Like Torquemada of the Great Inquisition, he is absolutely convinced that witches exist and that they must be burned at the stake. For their own good. And that this is what Jesus Christ demands of him. And why does he need any more evidence and facts in the face of such obvious things?
It’s OK to attack another country for territorial gains. That’s what everyone wants to do. It’s just that some hypocrites hide it and try to make themselves look like innocent sheep. But the truth is simple: everyone wants to grab other people’s land. More of it. And for the sake of this, everyone is ready to kill thousands and millions of people, destroy cities and ruin the lives of entire generations. It’s an axiom.
It’s a waste of time to convince him it’s not. He is as convinced of it as he is that political opponents should be imprisoned and killed. And that this is what all politicians want. Only not all of them can. And those who can, do it. And this is also an axiom.
In these conditions, the attitude of some Western politicians to negotiate with Putin and seek compromises with him is the height of carelessness and naivety. Golda Meir once said in a similar situation: “We want to live. Our neighbors want to see us dead. That doesn’t leave much room for compromise”.
It’s pretty obvious to me that Putin wants to take over Ukraine. Preferably all of it. And if he has to kill all Ukrainians to do it, he will do it. Even if he has to kill more than one million of his own Russians in the war. If it were up to him, he would destroy the entire West. That is his goal. He truly believes that this is his mission. That’s why he came into our world.
And I, following Golda Meir, also believe that “this does not leave much room for compromise”. Or rather, it leaves none at all. It’s either him or us. And I even think that Putin agrees with me. That is why he puts forward completely unacceptable conditions for negotiations. This means that he does not really want any real negotiations.
And we should finally realize this and close the pointless discussion about finding a compromise. We need to defeat him. All the more so because our cause is right, so the enemy will be defeated and the victory will be ours.
Glory to Ukraine!🇺🇦
