Chapter 3: The New Battlefield Is the Western Mind

Ukraine, October 7, and the contagious nature of perceived decline

Vladimir Putin didn’t just roll the dice on Ukraine because he believed the Ukrainians would quickly collapse.

He gambled that the West would respond to his invasion with threats, but not action.

He calculated that Western leaders would hold numerous meetings that would result- at worst - in sternly worded press statements. And then lunch.

And he reasoned that NATO was not so much an alliance of strong nations than a committee of competing anxieties - each member tethered to domestic politics, economic pressure, self doubt

This wasn’t a random misread …