This is exactly the kind of war that is most unlikely to happen between two liberal democracies[1] according to democratic peace theory[2]. Only a leader whose interests are distinct from the public and who can work without legal constraints can make a personal error of this magnitude.
There is no real animosity nor cause for the war between Ukraine and Russia. Both countries lose big in this war.
[1]:liberal democracy: democracy with separation of powers, an independent judiciary and a system of checks and balances between branches of government.
The example of the second Iraq war (2003) shows that democracies do launch invasions of other countries.
Now, I think a democracy would think twice before starting a war where it can be foreseen that effects would be very negative to their own people if only because of the risk of being voted out.
The sad thing is that a large chunk of people in Russia actually support him.
Even educated ones. I saw a shocking interview with an academic (who even lectured on western unis) - he said, that on personal level destruction of Ukrainian cities is a sad thing, but Moscow just executes the law/privilege of the empires.
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[ 9.2 ms ] story [ 21.8 ms ] threadThere is no real animosity nor cause for the war between Ukraine and Russia. Both countries lose big in this war.
[1]:liberal democracy: democracy with separation of powers, an independent judiciary and a system of checks and balances between branches of government.
[2]: Democratic peace theory https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_peace_theory
Now, I think a democracy would think twice before starting a war where it can be foreseen that effects would be very negative to their own people if only because of the risk of being voted out.
The sad thing is that a large chunk of people in Russia actually support him. Even educated ones. I saw a shocking interview with an academic (who even lectured on western unis) - he said, that on personal level destruction of Ukrainian cities is a sad thing, but Moscow just executes the law/privilege of the empires.