The Limits of War

A hot war is raging in the heart of the European subcontinent which, if you consult a geographic map, ranges from the scenic Cabo da Roca in Portugal (free admission) to the majestic Urals mountain range at the eastern edge of European Russia. The current locus is on the newly (re)acquired Russian provinces of Lugansk, Donetsk, Zaporozhye and Kherson. Along with some other provinces, such as Odessa, Kharkov and Kiev, these were Russian lands until Vladimir Lenin saw it fit to lump them into a hastily concocted Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic. But that chimeric entity has been gone for over 30 years now and what came in its stead has proven to be nonviable and is currently in advanced stages of political decomposition. It is the proverbial suitcase without a handle: impossible to lift but too valuable to leave behind; hence the current conflict, which is all about cracking it open and picking through the loot that’s inside it.

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