Okay. Here’s how it works, folks. An unauthorized invasion of another country is the ultimate war crime. It’s the war crime from which all other war crimes flow. When Russia invaded Ukraine the first time (in 2014), as retaliation for the Maidan Revolution that kicked out a pro-Russian autocrat, a group of far-right assholes calling itself the Azov Battalion arose to fight Russian-backed separatists in the Donbas region. To students of history, it’s no secret that warfare ends up radicalizing local populations. Worth noting as well that while the Azov Battalion are not nice people, the scale of their alleged atrocities and influence within Ukraine are wildly exaggerated by Russian propaganda for self-serving reasons. So when Russia in 2022 launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine under the pretext (in part) of fighting “Neo-Nazis,” they were really fighting a problem of their own creation — and one which wouldn’t have needed “solved” absent Russia’s prior aggression. Russia does not get to blame-shift away the foreseeable consequences of its own hostile policies. The redoubled invasion will lead inexorably to more death, destruction, and radicalization, and the last thing it will do is solve any problem. But make no mistake: This all flows, ultimately, from the Putin regime’s neo-imperialism and inability to accept a Westernizing, democratizing Ukriane.
