Russia the Disruptor

How Moscow broke with the West—and unleashed a more chaotic world. October 30, 2026, PM , a human rights researcher and writer based in New York. Russian President Vladimir Putin sits at a polished wooden desk with papers, flanked . The overall image has a motion-blur effect. Russian President Vladimir Putin chairs a meeting with members of the government via a video conference at the Novo-Ogaryovo state residence, outside Moscow, on April 19, 2023. Gavriil Grigorov/Sputnik/AFP via Get audio access with any FP subscription. LOGIN Understanding the conflict four years on. More on this topic In a famous scene from Band of Brothers, the HBO epic about a U. S. paratrooper regiment in World War II, a Nazi general surrenders to U. The Americans, rather than humiliating him, allow him to deliver a stirring address to his troops after they lay down their arms; the soldiers from both camps are visibly moved. That incident may be exaggerated or apocryphal, but it echoed a widely held sentiment among the Allies in 1945: “In victory, magnanimity,” as Winston Churchill once summarized. But over four decades later, as the Berlin Wall fell and the Soviet Union collapsed, magnanimity was harder to come by: How much, if anything, was the United States willing to offer Russia in the wake of the Cold War? In a famous scene from Band of Brothers, the HBO epic about a U. S. paratrooper regiment in World War II, a Nazi general surrenders to U. The Americans, rather than humiliating him, allow him to deliver a stirring address to his troops after they lay down their arms; the soldiers from both camps are visibly moved. That incident may be exaggerated or apocryphal, but it echoed a widely held sentiment among the Allies in 1945: “In victory, magnanimity,” as Winston Churchill once summarized. But over four decades later, as the Berlin Wall fell and the Soviet Union collapsed, magnanimity was harder to come by: How much, if anything, was the United States willing to offer Russia in the wake of the Cold War? That question is at the heart of two books, Hubris: The American Origins of Russia’s War Against Ukraine : How America Brought War to Ukraine . Both authors question to what extent Russia’s war in Ukraine is a reaction to decades of arrogance , full of swagger as the last superpower standing amid the ashes of the Cold War. Book cover titled "HUBRIS: THE AMERICAN ORIGINS OF RUSSIA' S WAR AGAINST UKRAINE" .