JRL NEWSWATCH: “Ukraine Is the Next Act in Putin’s Empire of Humiliation” – New York Times/ Peter Pomerantsev

“… This war is an act of imperialism, a colonial war meant to destroy another nation’s right to exist and to subjugate it. But it is not empire building … [as] a coldly considered plan for territorial gain and economic resources; it is the next act of … Putin’s empire of humiliation. [Putin] would have the world believe [Russia] … is guided by unifying ideas of cultural pride and conservative values, exceptionalism and splendid isolation. … Putin’s Russia [actually] has no coherent ideology … just a mess of contradictions: … Soviet nostalgia and a cultural arrogance … glorif[ying] … Russian empire; … a Russian ethnic and Christian Orthodox superiority that sits uncomfortably with what is supposed to be pride in … a patchwork of ethnicities and faiths. … Putin’s success … has rested for some time on … met[ing] out daily humiliations to Russians … then act[ing] as if he feels their rage … [and] alone knows where to direct it — toward the West … Ukraine, anywhere except … the Kremlin. …”

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