Both heroes and mediocrities will decide the fate of Ukraine

The role of the “great” man or woman in history has fascinated thinkers since at least Plato. Plato believed that an ideal society should be ruled by humans. philosopher king. It’s natural to be fascinated by heroes and heroines. They are charismatic figures with great capacity for good and evil.

As sociologist Sidney Hooke argued in his 1943 book Heroes in History, such figures changed the course of world events. Hooke directly accepts the Marxist belief in the primacy of “force” and “contradiction” and argues that if Vladimir Lenin did not return to Russia and persuade his reluctant comrades to occupy the Winter Palace, in 1917 He even claimed that the November Bolshevik coup would not have happened. .

Naturally, great men and women are also of interest to contemporary policymakers and analysts, especially those following Russia’s war with Ukraine. Some argue that Vladimir Putin is a devilishly wise leader. Others suggest he is mediocre. No matter how you look at it, you cannot escape Putin’s dark presence and influence on history.

This war has also highlighted the flip side of greatness: mediocrity, which President Joe Biden, former President Donald Trump, and Speaker of the House Mike Johnson are the embodiment of. We should resist the temptation to underestimate the mediocre. In contrast to Hooke’s focus on great men and women, they can shape history in the same way that heroes do. They do it by making errors, either through negligence or omission.

A mediocre person either makes the wrong choice at a critical moment or fails to recognize the signs of the times and chooses inaction over action. Fortunately, mediocre people can overcome their mediocrity and surprise everyone by meeting the demands of the moment.

These ordinary figures show that anyone, not just heroic individuals, can make history, as long as they preside over a powerful organization and have the necessary authority. Two examples will illustrate my point.

President George W. Bush mistakenly concluded that Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein was hiding a weapons of mass destruction program and decided that the United States and its allies needed to launch a pre-emptive strike. No weapons were found, hundreds of thousands of Iraqis were killed, and much of the Middle East was destabilized, with no obvious benefit to anyone. Bush’s failure was an act of commission.

In contrast, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain’s famous blunder was one of inaction. He was unable to resist his 1938 annexation of the Sudetenland by Nazi Germany, and effectively encouraged Hitler’s expansionist plans. Chamberlain did not understand the obvious. Hitler’s Germany was not an ordinary state with limited revivalist goals, but an evil state with plans for genocide.

Russia’s genocidal war against Ukraine provides some instructive examples of mediocrity acting on a script, but it also shows how people can rise above mediocrity and act heroically. ing.

President Biden’s mistake was due to negligence. To his credit, he recognized that Putin and his regime posed a threat to Ukraine, North Atlantic security, and global stability. But Biden failed to recognize that Putin needed to be stopped immediately, not eventually. Therefore, although Biden supplied weapons to Ukraine, he was always too little, too late. He could have helped end the war with a Ukrainian victory in 2023. Instead, by acting fearfully, he ensured that the war continued indefinitely and was eventually described as “endless.”

Former President Trump and Speaker Johnson’s errors were due to inaction. President Trump was trying to stop his friend Putin, who had boasted during his presidency (the delivery of spears to Ukraine was a one-off) and afterwards that he could end the war within 24 hours. I couldn’t do much about it. Prime Minister Johnson is well aware that he can change the course of history by getting the House of Commons to vote on a bill providing $60 billion in military arms to Ukraine. Instead, he has so far decided to bow down to Trump and stick to his mediocrity, ignoring the dangerous consequences of fear of heroism.

There are also two examples of mediocre people who overcame this situation. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz was not the person expected to follow in the footsteps of his predecessor, who always tried to appease President Putin in one way or another. Instead, Mr. Scholz chose to escape mediocrity and become a hero by fundamentally reversing the country’s policy toward President Putin. Rusland Versteher (“Russian sympathizers”) to calm opponents of Russian imperialism.

The change of heart of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy was even more courageous. The former comedian, who had a distinguished presidential career, proved he could fulfill his heroic role by staying in Kiev after the Russian invasion and risking his life to lead his country’s fight against Putin’s regime. No one expected him to act this way, but Zelensky proved that heroes can not only be born, but also be created – but only if they create themselves. Limited.

Sadly, the fate of the world, of Europe, America and Ukraine, lies between two powerful ordinary people who insist on remaining ordinary, and one former mediocre comedian turned leader whose global influence is waning. is in the hands of. Whatever the outcome of the war, Trump and Johnson will go down in history as despicable individuals who chose to ignore Zelensky’s courageous example. They have no excuse for their willful incompetence and will be condemned by future generations.

Alexander J. Motil He is a professor of political science at Rutgers University-Newark. He is an expert on Ukraine, Russia, the Soviet Union, and nationalism, revolution, empire, and theory, and is the author of ten nonfiction books.imperial end“The Decline, Collapse, and Resurrection of Empires” and “Why the Empire is rising again: Compare the collapse of an empire and the revival of an empire. ”