Putin is unpicking the frayed bonds of Nato and the EU

Vladimir Putin doesn’t need to send troops into Ukraine. He has already achieved his strategic goals — for now.

The leading European Union powers, France and Germany, are competing against each other for Putin’s ear, while Britain is competing against them by shipping arms to Ukraine. The United States is exposed as an unreliable protector, unable to defend its overextended position on Russia’s doorstep in Ukraine. Nato is divided and powerless, a shadow of imperial overreach.

A decrepit caste of corrupt leaders is incapable of managing a controlled retreat from imperial overreach. America today, or Russia the day before yesterday? Putin witnessed the decay and collapse of the Soviet Union, and the subsequent expansion of Nato up to Russia’s borders. He is now returning the favour. He is pushing American and European influence out of Ukraine, and unpicking the already frayed bonds of Nato and the EU.

Geopolitics is not about morality. It is about the effective use of power.