JRL NEWSWATCH: “The Russian Empire Must Die: A better future requires Putin’s defeat — and the end to imperial aspirations” – The Atlantic
“… The cultural weight of the past is heavy, and the habits of autocracy — especially the habit of living in fear — persist. The attraction of power is also strong. … and the next government of Russia might well be even more repressive …. Countries evolve, sometimes creating better governments … sometimes worse …. Empires fall: The Russian empire fell, the Soviet empire fell, and sooner or later Putin’s new Russian empire will fall, too. … The country’s future will be shaped … by how its leaders and citizens absorb and interpret the tragedy of this shocking, brutal, unnecessary war. The best way that outsiders can help Russia change is to ensure that Ukraine takes back Ukrainian territory and defeats the empire. We can also keep supporting those Russians, however small their number, who understand why defeat is the only path to modernity; why military failure is necessary for the creation of a more prosperous, open society; and why, once again, the empire must die. … Russians who believe the future can be different will keep trying to change their country, and someday they will succeed. … [N]o one should ever concede to Putin the right to define what it means to be Russian. He doesn’t have that power. …”