HIS “SPECIAL MILITARY OPERATION” ISN’T SO SPECIAL ANYMORE: Putin has decided to normalize his war. “The real news was an implicit message that the war in Ukraine is not ending anytime soon and that Russians must get used to living with it – especially as, in Putin’s telling, it presents an economic opportunity that’s greater than the sacrifice it requires. That Putin chose to deliver this message a year into the Russian invasion of Ukraine means he has no idea how Russia wins – and that, for want of better options, he’s decided to semaphore that he doesn’t really mind a long war.”

Others see it ending this year but no one really knows — not even Putin.