Russia's War Against Ukraine
OP-ED
Maxim Trudolyubov: Putin’s crossed vision
Russian President Vladimir Putin has a grand vision of what Russia's place in the world should be. The problem is that no one really knows exactly what his goals are or how he plans to achieve them. What's worse, perhaps he himself doesn't know, Maxim Trudolyubov writes for New York Times.
MOSCOW - Many of the great empires of the past thought of themselves as having grand global missions. The European colonial powers of recent centuries liked to think of themselves as bringing the advantages of Western civilization to less fortunate lands. The Soviet Union - at least among its more idealistic adherents - was dedicated to spreading the gospel of Communism. In turn, the United States embraced the spread of free-market capitalism and democracy as its international mission.
