Russia’s war: Putin’s compulsive delusion

In order to save his model of rule, Vladimir Putin unleashed a war in Europe with crude accusations. It could be that he achieves the opposite of what he strategically wants.

There is war in Europe, and above this war stands a name: Vladimir Putin. His attack on Ukraine, which he ordered, ended a week-long game of lies, deception and protestations, and plunged an entire continent into horror, anger and despair.

Like the speeches of the past few days, Putin’s declaration of war says a lot about him; about his almost delusional conspiracy theories, his notorious fear of being surrounded, his cynical approach to history, his deep contempt for the culture of the Ukrainians and, above all, his manic fear of a people who above all wanted their independence and want it to continue. Nothing would be more alien to the former KGB agent.

Fear of the western model

Putin’s attack is therefore an attack that goes beyond Ukraine and against the values ​​to which Europe, knowing that the crime against humanity was the Holocaust, has committed itself: freedom, equality, self-determination. He tramples on this in his own country, and that is why he fears the Western model in his neighborhood.

Putin knows very well that his power is only borrowed and that his model of rule is on shaky ground – and he experienced for himself how quickly even large empires can collapse in 1989 as a lonely stable guard in Dresden. This trauma and this felt humiliation stuck in Vladimir Putin’s bones to this day.

project fission

To this day, Putin has not understood why the Soviet Union broke up. Instead, he wants to destroy the post-Soviet order. In the spirit of his anti-Western and anti-democratic training, Putin has worked for years to split and weaken the EU and NATO. Now he sees his chance to restore at least part of the former Soviet Union.

It remains to be seen whether this will only be a first step or the last attempt to expand Russian hegemony. Putin will be watching closely how the West reacts to this show of force. For NATO countries, the relapse into Cold War thinking means that they must strengthen their defense capabilities. The EU must finally talk seriously – and quickly – about a common foreign and security policy. If this succeeds, Putin would have achieved exactly the opposite of what he strategically wants.

Pictures from another time

But these are long-term considerations. Until then, the people of Ukraine will pay the price for Putin’s obsessions. At the beginning of 2022, in the heart of Europe, tens of thousands of people again have to flee their cities and hide in subway tunnels while Russian shells fall on their homes.

The fact that Putin is wrong and likely to fail in his belief that he can bomb up a Great Russian spirit will not be small consolation for the people of Ukraine. For them, it’s all about survival. Here Europe should show its strength and solidarity and open the borders for refugees. The commitment to one’s own values ​​is the most effective answer the West can give these days.