Vladimir Putin wants to be a conqueror
Even if a dwindling number of other leaders do, and those who try fail
SoME MAY say that Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine was to be expected. There had been signs after Russia illegally annexed Crimea in 2014 that its president had ambitions beyond the Black Sea peninsula. But data show that Mr Putin’s war of conquest defies an international trend. Since 1975 no country has wholly gobbled up and held onto another.
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