This Is Terrible

 I know. It requires context.

Russia has made a major encroachment into Polish airspace. This has happened in small ways before, but this is clearly a major event. It might have been caused by drones getting "disoriented" by Ukrainian electronic warfare efforts, or it might have been just a stupid mistake. However, it's Putin, so maybe he's probing the resolve of a NATO that cannot rely on the United States under Donald Trump. 

The Poles, it must be noted, are not shy about thinking the worst about Russia, and they only do so because of centuries of history.  The only time Poland and Russia got along was when Russia dominated Poland and denied them self-government.

What happens now? Poland has invoked Article IV, which requires NATO to take up the issue. What will Putin's Bitch in the Oval Office do?

More to the point, where is Putin's head right now? Presuming that this was NOT a deliberate provocation, the problematic logic of dictatorship is that he cannot admit a problem. We see this all the time in Trump, but it's a consistent thread throughout dictatorial rule: The Leader Is Never Wrong. Maybe he sacks some people as scapegoats; I don't know if he can blame it on Ukrainian electronic warfare, because that might require him to acknowledge that the Ukrainian defenses are improving. What he absolutely cannot do is say, "Hey, wow, our bad. We're really sorry."

I think we've all been disgusted by the saccharine sycophancy of Trump's Cabinet meetings and the lapdog nature of the Republican Congress. It's appalling. 

It's also dangerous. 

Leaders have to be able to receive contradictory input. They can't just get there and suck up the praise. This is the fundamental advantage of democracies. Trump's brittle ego and vindictive nature has ended the ability of those around him to give him bad news. Putin is in the same boat.

There is a school of pundits who praise dictatorships for their ease of action. "Look at what China has done in high speed rail." The problem for dictatorships is not whether they can make hay while the sun shines. The problem is that they will refuse to acknowledge that it's raining.