War and Persuasion | City Journal
A fall from grace in the aftermath of defeat isn t hard to imagine. The world will move on to the next stirring cause. The information sphere will disintegrate into the usual noise and outrage: the return of the Tower of Babel. Any disruption in the flow of Russian oil and natural gas will induce a supply shock, compounding shortages and cost-of-living hikes that are already politically hazardous. Domestic and economic issues will overshadow any interest in geopolitical security.
The question, at that point, will be whether heads of government in the West will continue to hold Russia responsible for its aggression or follow the public back into navel-gazing and amnesia. Putin, the autocrat, bet heavily that his democratic counterparts lacked the steadiness of purpose to harm his interests in the long term. He hasn t been proven wrong yet.
This piece seems too cynical to be true. The operative word here might be “seems.”