Todd Wood: For Ukraine is not a country
"We can do what we want, for Ukraine is not a country!" This is the meme, propagated by Russian President Vladimir Putin in his conversation with George W. Bush, that I see emanating from Novorossiya in East Ukraine constantly via the social media networks. It is used as a justification for military force and to de-legitimize the Ukrainian government's sovereignty over the land under pro-Russian separatist control. This meme is combined with an overwhelming information warfare campaign to propagandize the Russian people as well as to shape opinion in the West.