The Case Against Pessimism.

The author ponders on the battle against pessimism and autocratic rule and the fight for democracy. She looks back at the Russian military occupation across the Crimean peninsula, which is part of Ukraine, in 2014 and describes Russia's violence to terrorize people during its invasion of Ukraine in 2022. She discusses Russification or the imposition of arbitrary autocratic rule, as well as the connection between autocracy and imperial wars of conquest, and the link between despotism and war.