Tactical victories often end in strategic defeats. That is what Vladimir Putin is in for. The Russian president’s calculations appeared correct at first: the west swallowed the annexation of Crimea, and the Ukrainians did not resist for fear of all-out war. That put Russia on the path of military-patriotic mobilisation, enabling Mr Putin to claim absolute power without resorting to mass repressions. Yet by turning Russia into a war state, Mr Putin has unleashed the process he cannot stop and made himself hostage to suicidal statecraft.
戰術上的勝利往往會以戰略上的失敗告終。這就是俄羅斯總統弗拉迪米爾•普丁(Vladimir Putin)將迎來的命運。普丁打的算盤起初看起來是正確的：西方無奈接受克里米亞被吞併的事實，烏克蘭由於害怕爆發全面戰爭而不敢反抗。這讓俄羅斯走上了軍事愛國主義的道路，從而使得普丁能夠不用依靠大規模肅反運動就能獲得絕對權力。然而，通過將俄羅斯轉變爲一個戰爭國家，普丁啓動了一個他自己都無法停止的過程，自殺性的治國方略將讓他身不由己。