"The only antidote to collectivism is a principled defence of the very ideas Putin opposes: individualism and individual rights."

"British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said in an address to the Russian people that he does not believe the invasion [of Ukraine] is being perpetrated in their name, echoing the view expressed by many that Putin is acting against the values of Russian people. However, although Putin is clearly a madman, his actions are enabled by a philosophy that has as thoroughly permeated Russia today as it had Germany in the 1930s. This truth is borne out in the reaction of many Russian people to the invasion of Ukraine: According to independent polling agencies cited by Forbes.com and other Western sources, Putin’s approval ratings have increased sharply since the war began. Many Russian people accept the government’s “justification” for the invasion. There are some valiant individuals who resist, and they deserve enormous credit, as do those Russian soldiers who defect or refuse to obey orders to murder civilians. But they are a small minority.
    "What is happening now in Ukraine is a kind of barbarism many in the West thought was consigned to history. But the collectivism that led to the murder and brutalisation of millions upon millions of people in Hitler’s Germany, Stalin’s USSR, Mao’s China, Pol Pot’s Cambodia, and numerous other collectivist tyrannies during the 20th century, is still alive and capable of inflicting gruesome harm on millions of innocent people.
    "The only antidote to collectivism is a principled defence of the very ideas Putin opposes: individualism and individual rights."
          ~ Thomas Walker-Werth, from his article 'The Collectivist Roots of Russian Atrocities'