'It's Your Duty, My Beauty'

The Doorman with Nukes and No Friends

During the last several months I’ve read many probabilistic analyses of the possibility that Russia intends to further invade Ukraine. Their authors conclude that it is not only possible, but rather likely this could occur in the coming weeks.

Their arguments, some of them rolled out on Twitter, have shaken European leaders, led the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv to start thinking about relocation to Lviv and forced the international community to worry about the doorman with nukes and no friends.

Ukraine native Vladimir Pastukhov, a practicing philosopher based in London, says Putin’s goal is not war, but to create tension by threatening bloodshed. According to him, grabbing your potential customer by the throat is a convenient bargaining tactic. He says that’s the essence of what has been called “Doorman Syndrome" (Синдром Вахтёра).

“When the doorman makes threats, people pay attention. They talk about the threats and with the doorman who is making them, slipping something into his pocket and …