Afghanistan Vet. Elliot Ackerman: What Decides Who Wins in Ukraine

“When I was in Ukraine, I was speaking to a few Ukrainian intellectuals, historians and others; one made a very interesting point to me...When Putin says Zelenksy is a Nazi; in the West, we hear that [as] so ridiculous. He's Jewish; how can he possibly be a Nazi? But when he's saying that to Russians it…sends a slightly different signal…When you're Russian, Nazism, the manifestation of Nazism isn’t anti-semitism so much; it's this western decadence. And so when Putin says Zelensky is a Nazi, he's saying Zelensky is the manifestation of this breed of Western decadence that we as Russians have to guard the world against.”

Elliot Ackerman served as a U.S. Marine Corps officer in Iraq and Afghanistan, and later in Afghanistan as a CIA paramilitary officer.

In this episode of “The Wide Angle” he offers his strategic to ground level insights on what decides who comes out on top in Ukraine.

His most recent novel is the New York Times bestseller, “2034: A Novel of the Next World War.”