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are completely optional conflicts created by the character of the president.
The die is cast by who he is and he sees himself as without any kind of restraints on his power.
Join me, Evan Osnos,
and my colleagues Jane Mayer and Susan Glasser every Friday on the political scene.
Available wherever you get your podcasts.
You may have noticed that we're doing something a little different this week.
We've stepped back and we're looking at how the world we know is changing and how the new world order fits together in this moment.
So, in that spirit, here's a niche milestone for you.
As of this week, Russia has been fighting in Ukraine for longer than its predecessor,
the USSR, fought against Nazi Germany in World War II.
In other words, In the same time it's taken for Russia to occupy a small chunk of Ukraine,
most of the Second World War happened.
Many Russians look back at that time as the supreme moment of glory and strength in their history.
You couldn't say the same of their war in Ukraine now.
Russia's struggle to overcome a much smaller opponent.
But that has not stopped Vladimir Putin from dreaming of restoring Russia to its former glory.
Since coming to power, he's tried to rebuild a Russian empire,
and he now believes that Russia has reclaimed its rightful place on the world stage,
alongside the US and China.