On courage - Ben Taub in The New Yorker:

‘Courage is infectious, and, by the end of the second day, Ukrainian forces had continued to repel the Russian attacks. Some Ukrainian war propaganda—like the existence of an ace fighter pilot known as the Ghost of Kyiv—turned out to be total fabrication. But each hour that Kyiv didn’t fall was an hour that Ukraine was still winning. By Sunday, videos and photographs emerged showing Russian soldiers apparently looting grocery stores and cash exchanges. Tanks and other armored vehicles lay abandoned on the side of the road—some in smoldering ruins, others simply out of fuel. Ukrainian civilians were directed to remove street signs so that Russian soldiers would become lost. When a Russian tank driver ran out of fuel, a Ukrainian civilian asked if he’d like a tow back to Russia.’

Read the article here.

Not only violence is infectious (Girard), courage might be infectious as well.

Courage is helped by the weakness of the enemy. Apparently, some Russian soldiers were told that the war was just an exercise. Against all odds Putin and advisors appeared to believe that many Ukrainians would welcome Russian soldiers with flowers and borsht. Well, no.

Five days ago many analysts were in awe with Putins modernization of the Russian army, now it appears that the army is as weak, corrupt and above all unmotivated as let’s say the Red Army in 1980 or 1981 or 1984 in Afghanistan.

Generals and military advisors all over the world are keeping a close eye on Ukraine. Some questions will be answered sooner or later: what kind of war is winnable in 2022?

This war, besides all the justified moral condemnations, might close the chapter on the lessons learned in Iraq 2003 and Afghanistan 2001.

The West might conclude that fighting a war with conventional means is still a good option.

Or not.

The whole doctrine of modern warfare, warfare in the 21st century, is based on the idea that the first days of the war are decisive. For this reason, it doesn’t look very good for Putin. Now let’s see how he is going to save his face, negotiations or brutal mass killings in the hope to whip the Ukrainian people into obedience?

Usually, this whipping into obedience doesn’t work. Think only of Vietnam. But the bloodshed can be immense.