To think that some left news sites were mocking Biden for saying that Putin was preparing to invade Ukraine as if it was the furthest thing from his mind. What they failed to understand is that Putin isn’t so much a defensive and reactive actor as a bullying and power aggrandizing one. He aim is to restore a greater Russia to its former “glory.” Neither working class internationalism nor Lenin’s right to national self determination are in his vocabulary nor inform his practice. Perhaps long ago and far away they were, but not now. In his mind, they are relics of a different era. The new Putin is disdainful of national boundaries and is comfortable threatening the world with nuclear war.