JRL NEWSWATCH: “Putin’s nightmare is becoming a reality” – The Spectator
“‘Those he commands move only in command, nothing in love’. … I remembered [Shakespeare’s] words about Macbeth as I watched a shifty … Putin force the members of his Security Council to bob up and down … tremulously affirm[ing] … support for his wise policy on Ukraine. … [E]nforced compliance among Russian’s politicians has continued in the days since, as Putin’s invasion of Ukraine has continued. Russian officials are not openly criticising Putin (yet). But the faces of his generals – serious professionals who know how dangerous these things are – spoke volumes as he ordered them to up the nuclear alert. … Meanwhile, artists and musicians, writers and journalists, ordinary members of the middle class – even children of Putin’s cronies – are going onto the streets … express[ing] … anger and shame at what he is doing. That takes courage when you know full well that the authorities’ reaction will be brutally physical. …”