19 May 2024

The seven deadly contradictions of the Ukraine war

Gabriel Elefteriu

We owe one of the most insightful observations about human reasoning to F. Scott Fitzgerald. In a 1936 essay, The Crack-Up, he wrote, “the test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function.”

By that measure, the Western debate on the Ukraine war is packed with geniuses. From the beginning we have been treated to mistaken assumptions wrapped in logical fallacies, inside contradictions. The net result is that in the third year of war Russia is on the offensive, well-supplied and well-armed, with no end in sight.

So, let us consider some of the key areas of fractured logic at play with respect to this conflict – the Seven Deadly Contradictions of the war.

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