Belated consensus that Putin's Russia is a fascist state. I warned about this explicitly in 2014 and in Winter Is Coming. The shift from "rational authoritarianism" to a personality cult, need for enemies, and victimization was clear. economist.com/briefing/2022/…
In my 2015 book, I cited Paxton's definition of fascism and said it looked like Putin used it as a to-do list. And so it was and so it is. It doesn't end. The Economist: "Expansion is in its nature. It will seek to expand both geographically and into people’s private lives."
The point free world leaders most needed to understand was the shift from Putin needing friends to needing enemies. They kept acting like he would return to civilized behavior, to normalize Russia as a nation. But fascism is a one-way street.
As soon as Putin consolidated complete control in Russia, as soon as he was sure he would no longer face international pressure on human rights, he steadily pivoted to overt fascism. Enemies internal and external, religion, propaganda of death and hatred. War was inevitable.
As I wrote, as documented by generations of historians, despotic regimes inevitably run out of excuses for why the lot of the people has not improved under their eternal rule. Their answer is repression and war. New enemies, new scapegoats. Putin is no different.
Russia must not only be cleansed of Putin, but Putinism. Russians must face defeat and reality, see what horrors are being done in their name, with their apathy and support. As always with facing down a dictator, it will not be easy, but it will only be harder tomorrow.
The West was content to let Putin destroy Russia as long as the gas, oil, and cash were flowing to them. But now he is slaughtering Ukrainians and trying to call it self-defense, to annex sovereign territory. It must not be allowed or it will not stop.
Putin's war could have been stopped when it started in 2014. Now the West is responding more like it should have then. But unless more is done quickly to help Ukraine win, the same cycle will repeat. It's not enough for Russia not to win. Ukraine must win.
Read The Economist article if you deem me "too emotional," as I was called for saying the same things in 2014. A little more emotion would have helped the world push back then. More anger, more fear of what would come. economist.com/briefing/2022/…
As went the joke I heard in Ukraine in Dec 2014, a Russian calls a Jewish Ukrainian friend: “Moishe, is it true your country has been taken over by Nazis and fascists?” “Yes,” his friend replies, “our synagogue is full of them!” But now the real fascists are revealed. Fight.
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