Putin bares the flaws of autocracy for world to see

The view that authoritarians are on the march – with more vision and vitality than democratic governments – has been dealt a severe blow by Vladimir Putin’s Ukraine missteps.

President Joe Biden has often said that the struggle of our age is democracy versus authoritarianism. If that is the case, in Russia’s cruel war against Ukraine it is the autocrats who so far have been diminished and discredited.

Russian leader Vladimir Putin’s gross underestimation of Ukraine’s ability to fight, NATO’s will to resist, and his own army’s unreadiness are the...