Colonel General Alexander Zhuravlyov is repeating in Ukraine the use of Smerch cluster rockets with which he terrorized civilians in Syria when he was on loan to Bashar al-Assad. Putin, following his instinct to amplify atrocity, has brought Colonel General Zhuravlyov home to repeat what he did so well abroad.

It is generally said that the Russian propensity for brutal land-grabbing is due to its conquest and 300-year occupation by the Mongol hordes in the 13th-16th centuries. So, like an abused child become an abusive adult, Russia keeps renewing the cycle of its own abuse in its relationships with its weaker neighbors.

The seizure of Crimea, the invasion of Ukraine, and other displays of barbarism yet to come are parts of the unending sequence of attacks by an uncivilized horde from the East, and Putin is playing the role of Batu Khan. I hope Russia’s current behavior will make the world realize that Russia is not a nation-state, but an unregenerate horde, and that it must be treated as such.