What do you see as the significance of this? I think I would have been surprised if Putin talked mostly about Ukraine—it’s more respectable to be struggling vs the west than vs a smaller, poorer neighbour. Compare to “war on terror” vs “war on Afghanistan”.
Given the above, it doesn’t seem particularly notable that he insults the west.
I also don’t see escalation as more likely if he declares “the west” to be the prime enemy vs “NATO”; perhaps less, actually, because “the west” seems more of a rhetorical opponent while you could actually fight against NATO with bombs if you really wanted to.
What do you see as the significance of this? I think I would have been surprised if Putin talked mostly about Ukraine—it’s more respectable to be struggling vs the west than vs a smaller, poorer neighbour. Compare to “war on terror” vs “war on Afghanistan”.
Given the above, it doesn’t seem particularly notable that he insults the west.
I also don’t see escalation as more likely if he declares “the west” to be the prime enemy vs “NATO”; perhaps less, actually, because “the west” seems more of a rhetorical opponent while you could actually fight against NATO with bombs if you really wanted to.