Discussion about this post

User's avatar
Rob steffes's avatar

Excellent analysis! One has to be pretty damn brave to be a dissident in Russia. Putin, psychopath that he is, has no qualms murdering or imprisoning any one he thinks would threaten him. Whether the West could have helped Russians establish a liberal democracy after the USSR collapsed is questionable; in the event the West made a hash of it.

Expand full comment
Walter Faber's avatar

Fair points. I am worried what the Russian dissidents will whisper in Western leader's ears though. Politico recently quoted unnamed officials who explained US limitations on Ukrainian weapons use by concern about restoring relations with Russia in the futre.

I am not convinced that exchanging actual agents against political prisoners was a good signal. It shows that you can send agents to the West and if they get caught, you can exchange them for prisoners that you can easily "manufacture".

Expand full comment
2 more comments...

No posts