RealClearWorld: Russia’s Broken Logic for Invading Ukraine

History shows that in war, a rapid victory doesn’t require a carefully considered justification. A country goes in, wins, and makes the case later. An extended war, however, must be justified to a government’s own people so that it can have the full force of the public behind it, and to the rest of the world so that it doesn’t invite retribution. – George Friedman

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