“Since I have entered into these wars. /
Glory is like a circle in the water, /
Which never ceaseth to enlarge itself /
Till, by broad spreading, it disperse to naught.”
- Joan la Pucelle [Shakespeare, 1 Henry VI, 1.3.111-114]
Introduction: A Journey to the West
February 24th marks the second year of Russia’s “full-scale” invasion of Ukraine, as the Western media likes to call it. “Full-scale” is of course a meaningless term that lost its use for communicating real information once the initial news was known, and anyway Russia used well under its total force capacity. There is some brilliance to the term though, as it manages to be prejudicial against Russia while also providing subtle acknowledgement that it isn’t what started war in Ukraine. It is certainly more accurate than “unprovoked;” perhaps it is a reference to Joe Biden’s “minor incursion…
