Editor’s note:
The war in Ukraine has been a sobering reminder that the world is not a peaceful place, and that the lives of millions of people can be dictated by the whims of one very disturbed individual. Vladimir Putin’s war is demonstrating that he is nothing more than a despot who envisions himself as the second coming of Peter the Great, cobbling back together the tsar’s empire under the pretenses of being concerned about the eastward spread of NATO. As the war continues, it’s becoming more and more clear that he does not care what lies he tells, how many Ukrainians he kills or displaces, and how many of his own people protesting the war he arrests.