Member-only story
Toxic Nostalgia
The Russian Army, like the Soviet Army before it, has manifested significant logistics problems for decades, and if anything the preliminary evidence is that the problem might be worse than expected.
Indeed the Russian Army now seems to have fallen prey to one of the great temptations of many militaries created by dictators — lots of flashy weapons but little consideration about how to deliver them (few trucks).
Clearly there is Ukrainian understanding of these weaknesses, which has led to their very effective and constant efforts to attack Russian convoys — and guess what they are doing. Destroying large numbers of precious Russian trucks.
— Phillips P. OBrien
*
“We are homesick most for the places we have never known.”
― Carson McCullers
*
“Nostalgia for empire is what seems to drive Vladimir Putin — that and a desire to overcome the shame of punishing economic shock therapy imposed on Russia at the end of the Cold War. Nostalgia for American “greatness” is part of what drives the movement Donald Trump still leads — that and a desire to overcome the shame of having to face the villainy of white supremacy that shaped the founding of the United States and mutilates it still…