ABSTRACT
It is important to understand that promoting over-simplified narratives of leaders that we don’t understand sways public opinion and can lead to catastrophic mistakes and unspeakable loss of life and resources. We can study the Balkan, Iraqi, and Afghanistan wars where rushing into a poorly led constellation of factors led to disastrous outcomes. Now it may be happening with Russia. Promoting the idea that Putin somehow has a miraculous power to engage in a war without popular support is a convenient way to present the problem and motivate Western audiences to support the defense of Ukraine. However, long-term consequences are completely unclear and appear to be poorly understood or cared for by current actors and events. The demonization of the leader and the resulting meddling in the internal affairs of countries poorly understood has played out many times and in a number of places. Many cultures have traditions and customs that are not appealing and do not accord to the “democratic” or “Western” culture and history demonstrates how quickly the attempts to democratize and westernize these cultures fail.
