Wednesday open thread: Putin's hubris
Good morning, friends.
In the Classical world, hubris was considered the gravest offense against the Olympian gods, and one they would never forgive and punish severely. Hubris assumed that mere mortals placed themselves above the gods, and that couldn't stand.
Now we have Vladimir Putin, and his misadventure in Ukraine:
Russian troops in Ukraine appear to be rapidly retreating from the areas around Kharkiv while Ukrainian armed forces make significant advances north and northwest of the city, as shown by unverified maps tracking Moscow's invasion of the neighboring country.
@War_Mapper, a Twitter account that has been mapping the Russian invasion of Ukraine since February 24 using drone and satellite images of Ukraine, reported on Tuesday that Ukraine launched two offensive near Kharkiv, where Ukrainian troops took the settlements of Slobozhanske, Borshchova, Rus'ki Tyshky and Cherkas'ki north of the city, and Bairak, Rubizhne, Verkhnii, Saltiv and Zamilivka northwest of Kharkiv.
Here is his tweet:
Obviously, this isn't going according to Putin's plan. But what toll is this taking on him?A map of the approximate situation on the ground in Ukraine as of 00:00 UTC 10/05/22. pic.twitter.com/l5EhEvend3
— Ukraine War Map (@War_Mapper) May 10, 2022
Now, no, I don't believe he's toothless. But his puffed up. He's bloated. He doesn't look well. There are other pictures of him holding onto desks for dear life. He may not survive much longer.
He could have lived out his life as dictator of Russia, raking in oil and gas billions, and left Ukraine to its own devices. But Ukraine defied him. It made a mockery of him. It spurned him. And it had to be punished.
The thing is, his state is a mafia state. It's hollowed out. It has no wealth which hasn't been siphoned off. And this applied to the military. It put on great displays of strength. But there was no "there" there. It was a husk. And its frailty has been on full display for the past almost-three months. It's not the US military. It didn't sweep aside Ukrainian opposition. It was met with resistance, and it crumbled.
Putin lived in his own bubble. He was fed "intelligence" that the vaunted Russian army would sweep aside the Ukrainian Nazis. He had no "plan B", because he was assured he didn't need one. When the mad king wants something, you provide it, even if you know you really can't. Better a failure pinned to the emperor than a dose of polonium.
Now, Putin has been reduced to recommissioning retired navy vessels. Ukraine, a state with no navy, is taking out Russia's fleet on the Black Sea. It's something out of some satire.
I don't know if a coup is imminent. But whatever happens, Putin will die as a failure. His grand imperial visions have all been washed away. Rather than restitur orbis, he will be just another in a long line of sad and pathetic Russian autocrats who were upended by their outsized opinions of themselves. And that's not a bad thing.