Russians Wanted the Soviet Union Back. They Got It. – Noah Rothman, Commentary Magazine
Amid all this, Putin seems quite pleased with himself. The Russian president s disconnection from reality is near total. The Soviet Union always lived under sanctions and succeeded, the hidebound autocrat asserted this week. If Putin considers the Soviet Union s history of violence, repression, economic stagnation, and self-dissolution a success, it s hard to imagine that he can conceive of failure. Indeed, from his perspective, the invasion of Ukraine and all its attendant hardships is a success.
Sure, Moscow hasn t secured any of its strategic objectives in Ukraine, and Russia is sure to emerge from this conflict an isolated and diminished global power wholly dependent on rogue states for its survival. But Putin has the visuals he wanted. Today, the flag of the Soviet Union once again adorns tanks rolling into Europe, and the 1945 victory banner flies over Ukraine. The sound of dissent arising from the streets is muted amid the terrified screams of the brutalized and oppressed. The market has been tamed, and the Russian people have been rendered placid and governable once more. This is the greatness Russians supposedly longed for. Now they have it.
Pretty grim.