Back in 2014 there was the annexation of Crimea. At the time there was the unsurpassed online platform wdwreview.org, for which I was image-editor for most of its existence (2013 - 2017). It’s archived on fkawdw.nl and there’s also the printed version Wdw Review - Arts, Culture and Journalism in Revolt, an anthology of the thoughts and reflections of wdwreview (2017).
For the Moscow desk contribution ‘A Conservative Revolution’ by Alexander Morozow in May 2014 I found a meaningful picture with a megalomaniac dimension, listening to the caption: Unveiling a commemorative silver coin marking Crimea’s incorporation into Russia. The coin bears an image of Russia’s president Vladimir Putin on the obverse. A map of the Crimean Peninsula is depicted on the reverse. Date: 23 Apr 2014. Photo: Getty Images.
Some quote from the article: Many will now look back and say that Putin was like this from day one, that everything was clear when those buildings were blown up in 1999. Then again, I would insist that from late February to early March 2014, we have been witnesses to—and hostages of—a process of rebirth. Putin is no longer simply a high-stakes player, but a politician of a different type than what he was before. He is now a permanent revolutionary who throws all his resources into creating a situation of uncertainty and unpredictability. At the same time, we are witnessing the rebirth of Russian society, which proved incapable of withstanding the tensions of the last twenty-five post-Soviet years. Unlike the other peoples of the former USSR, Russian society overheated and could not cope with its new position in a new world. Now we are witnessing a sizable part of that society give itself over to a naïve joy at the ‘capture’ of Crimea. As soon as the Kremlin started upping its game in support of ressentiment [as a result of not being recognized as an equal, great nation, FvdS] and revanchism [the defeat of the Kosovo-war with NATO-intervention in 1999, FvdS], it became clear that a significant portion of the educated middle class, who enjoy quite a high standard of living, are no less passionate in their desire for revenge than football hooligans.
Image: Getty Images