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Word power: Timothy Snyder on Putin’s Russia v Ukraine

Published November 29, 2022 by Pelidoug

Word power: Timothy Snyder on Putin’s Russia v Ukraine

(Yale-based historian Timothy Snyder is best known as the author of Blood Lands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin, a book which profoundly enriched/jolted not a few readers’ understanding of “The Holocaust”, this reader’s included)

What European history really shows, and quite powerfully, is that in order to become, quote unquote, a ‘normal’ European country, you have to become post-imperial, [meaning] you have to lose your wars.

Snyder’s words, quoted immediately above and below, are from an article published in today’s Australian edition of The Guardian.

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Word power: on Putin’s nigh-inevitable but Pyrrhic “victory”

Published March 1, 2022 by Pelidoug

Word power: on Putin’s nigh-inevitable but Pyrrhic “victory”

Combine Putin’s utter lack of scruples/decency/humanity with Russia’s overwhelming military superiority, and the result of the  invasion of Ukraine is almost inevitable: Russia “wins”.

However, ultimately, Russia loses; almost as inevitable as its initial “success” is Russia’s eventual failure – an inability to rule Ukraine, the collapse of Russia’s economy, and a decline in the “greatness” of Russia as a “world” power.

This post links to two of the better articles that seek to explain the nature of Putin’s miscalculation, and how “success” can be just another word for failure.

read moreWord power: on Putin’s nigh-inevitable but Pyrrhic “victory”
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