Vladimir Putin’s assault on Ukraine was, above all a blunder. In less than five weeks, Putin has destroyed Russia’s military reputation, battered his country’s economy and strengthened the democratic alliances he hoped to undermine. How could he have made such a catastrophic mistake?
Part of the answer is surely strongman syndrome: Putin has surrounded himself with people who tell him what he wants to hear. Everything indicates that he entered this debacle believing his own propaganda both about the martial prowess of his army and the willingness of the Ukrainians to submit to Russian domination.
But there is also reason to think that Putin, like many of his admirers in the West, thought modern democracies were too decadent to offer effective resistance.
And here’s the thing: when I look at the US, I worry that the West is, in fact, weakened by decadence – but not the kind that Putin and like-minded people are obsessed with.
Our vulnerability comes not from the decline of traditional family values, but from the decline of traditional democratic values, such as a belief in the rule of law and a willingness to accept election results that do not suit you.
Of course, the idea that cowardly morals destroy great powers goes back centuries. In the Hollywood version of the story, the Roman Empire fell because its elites were too busy with orgies to bother with defeating the barbarians. Actually, the timing is wrong for this story, but I’ll get to that in a minute.
Tucker Carlson warned that China’s military was becoming “more masculine” while ours was becoming “more feminine, regardless of the feminine meaning, since men and women no longer exist.”
Senator Ted Cruz retweeted a video comparing a US Army recruiting video with footage of a Russian paratrooper with a shaved head and said a “woke and emasculated army” might not be a good idea.
It would be interesting to know what happened to this paratrooper since Putin attacked Ukraine. In any case, the heavy losses suffered by Russia’s anti-revival army, which failed to attack vastly inferior Ukrainian forces, confirmed what anyone who has studied history knows: the wars are not won with braggadocio machismo.
Courage and endurance, physical and moral, are more essential than ever; but the same goes for more mundane things like logistics maintenance of vehicles and communication systems that actually work.
By the way, I can’t help but mention that recent events have also confirmed the truism that many, perhaps most men who pass themselves off as badass... aren’t. Putin’s response to the failure in Ukraine has been extremely Trumpian: insisting that his assault is going “according to plan”, refusing to admit mistakes and lamenting the cancellation culture. I half expect him to release crudely edited battle maps with a Sharpie.
But back to the kind of decadence that really matters.
As I said, the Hollywood version of the decline and fall of Rome does not stand up to scrutiny. Certainly, the spoils of the empire allowed a few people to live in great luxury, including perhaps an occasional orgy; the closest modern counterpart to this elite would be... the Russian oligarchs. But Rome retained its territorial integrity and military effectiveness for centuries after the emergence of this pampered libertine elite.
Obviously, what is happening in the US today bears no detailed resemblance to the troubles of the ancient world. Yet hardly a month goes by these days without more revelations revealing that much of the American body politic, including largely members of the political elite, despises democratic principles and will do whatever it takes to win.
It’s amazing how quickly we normalised that the last president tried to hold on to power despite losing the election and a mob he incited stormed the Capitol. Many people were involved in the effort to overturn the election – among them we recently learned was the wife of a sitting Supreme Court justice, who didn’t even recuse herself in the cases. Attempted coup.
And while Donald Trump’s effort to stay in power has failed, most of his party has, indeed, retroactively backed that effort.
Why is it relevant for Ukraine? Putin effectively bet that a decadent West would stand ready to complete his conquest. Instead, President Biden very effectively mobilised a democratic alliance that rushed aid to Ukraine and helped humiliate the aggressor.
But the next time something like this happens, America may not be leading an effective alliance of democracies, because we ourselves will have given up on democratic values.
And that, if you ask me, is what real decadence looks like.
- New York Times
Oman Observer is now on the WhatsApp channel. Click here
