A war of surprises in Ukraine, both tragic and inspiring

Every war brings surprises, but what is most striking about Vladimir Putin's war against Ukraine - and indirectly against the whole democratic West - is how many of the bad surprises, so far, have been for Putin and how many of the good surprises have been for Ukraine and its allies around the world.

How so? Well, I am pretty sure that when Putin was plotting this war, he was assuming that by three weeks into it, he'd be giving a victory speech at the Ukrainian Parliament, welcoming it back into the bosom of Mother Russia. He probably also assumed that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy would be in exile in a Polish Airbnb, Russian troops would still be removing all the flowers from their tanks thrown by welcoming Ukrainians, and Putin and China's President Xi Jinping would be high-fiving each other for having shown NATO and Sleepy Joe who's going to set the rules of the international system going forward.

Instead, Ukrainians have given Russians a tutorial on fighting and dying for freedom and self-determination. Putin appears locked into his own germ-free isolation chamber, probably worrying that any Russian military officer who comes near may pull a gun on him. Zelenskyy addressed the US Congress virtually on Wednesday. And rather than globalisation being over, individuals all over the world are using global networks to monitor and influence the war in totally unexpected ways. With a few clicks they're sending money to support Ukrainians and with a few more keystrokes telling everyone from McDonald's to Goldman Sachs that they must withdraw from Russia until Russian soldiers withdraw from Ukraine.