By this I mean the West's addiction to immediate gratification. If Putin hasn't conquered every last inch of Ukraine within 72 hours then he has "failed" according to Western media.
To some degree I don't blame them. In Iraq for example, the war tempo was intentional rapid. The US decided that maneuver warfare[1] would be the doctrine to use and it worked out okay only because they largely dealt with demoralized forces - but in areas where they encountered a willing opposition, it crushed the tempo.
Then, less than a year after "victory" they had terrible battles lasting months where the US lost and public sentiment flipped[2].
I keep two things in mind: in war, the first casualty is the truth.
The second: that it was only a year between "freedom fries" (because the French did not want to help invade Iraq) and "no blood for oil". What will US sentiment be a year from now when the crushing energy and food prices caused by this have worked their way through the system and the Democrats and their media go into the elections with full weaponized Russia-paranoia all over again?
When China is now even stronger because the West weaponized the financial system against an enemy that didn't warrant it?
When China leapfrogs the West even further because they benefited from the sanctions while not having deal with any material suffering?
Could Putin maybe have had an iota of a point about the enlargement of NATO suffocating Russia and backing them into a corner?[3]
Is there perhaps a shred of truth to the claim that there are neo-Nazis in Ukraine - some even trained by the West - even if its understood that this is just an excuse?[4]
These are questions that will inevitably be visited, but not today.
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[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maneuver_warfare
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Battle_of_Fallujah
[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enlargement_of_NATO
[4] https://www.ctvnews.ca/world/far-right-extremists-in-ukraini...