Why Russia should be humiliated in Ukraine

As Putin's fight against Ukraine continues, Russia is now seriously facing the possibility of losing. There are still weeks and difficult months ahead for Ukraine, and you still cannot underestimate the possibility of a deterioration of the war. But Putin has failed to fulfill his original goals (Kiev's capture) and now it seems to be not successful either in his second and much more modest purpose that is to capture Donbas. War has become a protracted task. This in itself is a loss to the Russians.

Russia's humiliation in Ukraine has unexplained benefits, even for Russia itself. For years we have heard that Russia must be pleased and happy because, if not, it would retaliate if it lost its superpower status. The disappearance of the Soviet Union, we were told, has been a terrible catastrophe from which the revolted Russians have not recovered. So they must be respected. They must remain proud and proud. God don't do it if they're humiliated because nobody knows what they'd do.

I've seen the collapse of the Soviet Union closely. That was, of course, a traumatic experience. There was poverty, misery, chaos. Enraged nationalists gathered under their ravanists. And then Russia invaded Chechnya in a brutal attempt to restore their wounded pride by bringing their defiant separatists to the region for comfort. And we looked and rejoiced because, you know, the Russians had a good reason to be angry: they had lost the Cold War!

In 1991, however, there was a feeling among Russians that the Soviet Union had not been defeated in the way it declared under its own weight. Many refused to admit that the collapse of the Soviet Union was the result of economic mismanagement for years and because of the imperial pump- and instead, they were looking for traitors. Mikhail Gorbachev, in particular, was singled out for his naiveness if not for his ill will. In the 1990s men's transport game, one was to be charged as responsible for Russia's plight: traitor Gorbachev, drunkard Yeltsin, voracious oligarchs and, of course, devoted Western advisers who have always sought out Russia's undoing.

The chaos and weakness of the 1990s increased Vladimir Putin, who promised to bring about order and power. The abuse of Putin's power, corruption, violence against human rights, and erosion and democratic institutions all were tolerated in the name of that promise of power. Russia may have been poor, authoritarian and with a degree of corruption, but Putin was viewed as an investor in the army and a return of Russia's “Greatness”. And some Russians have always been seeking greatness. They would even sell their last shirt for this deceitful promise.

Every year Putin holds the Victory Day parade. This is used to becoming a great job. Tanks march, planes fly and soldiers take their military steps along the Red Square under observation of the late dictator. I refused from inside these military shows, which have little to do with the memories of World War II, but it has to do with <x0-second-long <x1) state-sponsored”. And I'm sure I'm talking about a lot of Russian liberals if I have to admit that somewhere deep in my low consciousness, I, too, am trembling by sound and rage. It took a concerted effort to purge the poison of militarism -- an effort that many Russians just couldn't do even if they knew the problem. And they don't do that.

Now Ukraine has drilled a large empty hole in Russia's narrator for “Russia is poor, authoritarian and corrupt, and now we also understand it is weak and pathetic. Russia's “Greatness” has contracted to an orgy of murder and violation committed by brutal Occupants in Ukraine. Contaminated by innocent blood and beaten by genuine confrontation, the bulleur has contracted in number. Thanks to time. Thank Ukraine for this bitter cure. Russia has so much need.

Russia needs pure humiliation. She needs a modest recognition of her reduced status, an admission of guilt, and a slow summary effort to regain the trust of those who have been deceived. Russia has not learned this lesson in the 1990 ' s. She must learn it now.

True greatness does not hide behind ugly military parades, nor in promises to launch a nuclear bomb. True greatness lies in accepting the past and in willingness to make adjustments. It lies in commitment to build a better future in a country that would have to become known for its schools and hospitals, not tanks and rockets.

Russia's true source of humiliation has always been Russia itself - its autocratic leaders and its schivinist population, which no longer value them. Russia's loss in this unfair and criminal fight against Ukraine could probably help overcome the internal tertibility in Russia towards the country's accession of what it really is instead of what it has tried to show. Only then can Russia finally be at peace with itself and with its neighbours.

Sergey Radchenko is a professor at John Hopkins University in Washington.

♪ Sokol Berisha/Periscope.