'I cannot think of a single world leader—other than Adolf Hitler—who would have so explicitly, so callously, and so casually declared his indifference to mass human suffering. Especially worrying is that Putin made these statements at a press conference .. He was placing the international community in general and the West in particular on notice..'<blockquote>'I cannot think of a single world leader—other than Adolf Hitler—who would have so explicitly, so callously, and so casually declared his indifference to mass human suffering. Especially worrying is that Putin made these statements at a press conference. He was, in other words, not just speaking to Russians or Ukrainians. He was placing the international community in general and the West in particular on notice: If he chooses to start a war, large numbers of civilians will die. They may be Ukrainian, but they may also be anybody he resolves to “protect.”
Unsurprisingly, Ukrainians are terrified by Putin’s warmongering. A friend in Lviv, which is as far as one can be from Ukraine’s eastern border (or is it front?) with Russia, tells me that “people are petrified and believe war is inevitable.”..'
- Alexander J. Motyl,
Putin’s Terrifying Warmongering, March 14, 2014</blockquote>
Context<blockquote>
'Only Europe, in concert with the United States, can put a check on the Putin doctrine..'</blockquote>