Source: Washington Post
by George F Will
“Although there is no excuse for it, there is a reason for the failure of U.S. leaders to understand Putin. He is an open book who has been reading himself to the world since long before he published his 2021 essay ‘On the Historical Unity of Russians and Ukrainians.’ This farrago of ethnic mysticisms and history seen through a pseudo-theological lens is Putin’s ‘Mein Kampf.’ His resentments and revenge aspirations are all there. But are largely ignored or disbelieved by the West’s statesmen and publics who complacently believe that the end of history meant the end of toxic nonsense such as this: Putin believes Russia is a ‘civilization-state’ with cultural-cum-religious significance, rights and responsibilities that justify the erasure of other nations. Which is why the Economist correctly says that for Putin ‘war has become an ideology.'” (06/06/25)