Over the years, Russian President Vladimir Putin has clearly perceived that his imperialist ambitions will not meet much resistance from liberal democracies – at least until his full-scale invasion of Ukraine. If the West fails to help Ukraine repel Putin’s forces, the world will become a much more dangerous place.
LONDON – “I looked the man in the eye. I found him to be very straightforward and trustworthy,” US President George W. Bush said after meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin for the first time in 2001. That turned out to be a colossal misjudgment – perhaps one of the worst in recent history. While British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain may have appeased Adolf Hitler in the late 1930s, at least he never claimed that he “was able to get a sense of his soul.”
LONDON – “I looked the man in the eye. I found him to be very straightforward and trustworthy,” US President George W. Bush said after meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin for the first time in 2001. That turned out to be a colossal misjudgment – perhaps one of the worst in recent history. While British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain may have appeased Adolf Hitler in the late 1930s, at least he never claimed that he “was able to get a sense of his soul.”