The Latin phrase hic sunt dracones translates roughly to “here be dragons,” an apocryphal phrase attributed to Medieval mapmakers who used the phrase to mark unknown areas on their maps. Today these areas are not the unexplored seas, but the lawless, ungoverned spaces of the world.
President Putin made three foundational assumptions in launching his war against Ukraine that should have been correct but were not. First, Putin assumed the invasion of Ukraine would be a quick and easy fight. Second, he assumed the world would denounce the invasion but tacitly allow it. Third, Putin assumed the war would deter NATO expansion.
