From articles by Anne Applebaum published in The Atlantic since 2021. Applebaum is a staff writer at The Atlantic and a senior fellow at the SNF Agora Institute, which is “dedicated to strengthening global democracy.”

Putin concluded that spontaneity is dangerous. Protest is dangerous. Talk of democracy is dangerous.

Autocrats have risen before; they have used mass violence before; they have broken the laws of war before.

He wants to destabilize Ukraine, frighten Ukraine. He wants Ukrainian democracy to fail. He wants the Ukrainian economy to collapse. He wants to keep dictators in power. He wants to undermine America. He wants America itself to fail.

There are questions about troop numbers, questions about diplomacy. There are questions about the Ukrainian military, its weapons, and its soldiers. There are questions about Germany and France. There are questions about America.

Yet another frozen conflict, yet another temporary holding pattern, yet another face-saving compromise will not end the pattern of Russian aggression.

Ukrainians are waiting for the counteroffensive. Europeans are waiting for the counteroffensive. Central Asians are waiting for the counteroffensive. Belarusians, Venezuelans, Iranians, and others are all waiting for the counteroffensive.

You are not safe. You are never safe. Not even if you live in a democracy; not even if you have political asylum; not even if you are sitting on a plane, thousands of feet above the ground.