Putin’s message to the world that Russia’s nuclear weapons systems are on alert should be reminder that humanity has to address the unfinished business of nuclear disarmament. It should also puncture any illusions that some on the left have about Putin. But it hasn’t which only goes to prove that reflexive thinking can be a stubborn thing.

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.

There’s a lot of soft opposition to Putin’s invasion of Ukraine in the name of marxism, class politics, and inter-imperalist rivalries. It’s a fight among oligarchies – Russian, U.S. Ukrainian – we are told. U.S. imperialism has done far worse. NATO set the table here. Seldom, if at all, do Ukraine’s people appear – fighting, dying, fleeing, hoping – in such analyses. Nor does Ukraine’s fledgling democracy merit a word. Nor does Ukraine’s sovereignty get a nod. Even Putin’s order putting Russia’s nuclear forces on alert doesn’t register much in their reflexive scheme. Am I surprised? Not really.