Easy Sunday: Vladimir Putin in hell
Imagine Vladimir Putin suffers a massive heart attack and goes straight to hell.
Putin does well in hell, so after a while he is given an afternoon leave of absence to return to Moscow. He visits a bar and orders a vodka.
He asks the bartender, "Tell me, do we still have Crimea?"
The barman says, "Yes."
"And the Dombas? Do we have the Dombas?"
The barman says, "Yes."
Putin is elated. He orders another vodka and then asks, "Kyiv? Did we get Kyiv?"
"Yes, " the barman answers, looking a little bit confused.
Putin has a third drink and downs it with a smile. "How much for the drinks?" he asks happily.
The barman answers, "15 Euros."
This is Easy Sunday, and that is a satisfying joke for me and most Americans.
Twentieth Century history gives a template for thinking about what is happening in Eastern Europe. Putin is Hitler. Russia is Nazi Germany. Crimea is Czechoslovakia. Ukraine is Poland. The U.S. and NATO avoided being Neville Chamberlain. Putin and Russia are the bad guys. We are the good guys.
Simple!
But here is a warning. There is other history to consider, including one written by Thucydides about the Peloponnesian War 2400 years ago. That virtuous feeling of moral clarity is dangerous. I will write about that soon.