Flags are flying in Ukraine as a gesture of defiance as Russia invades. Flags can’t ward off bombs and bullets, but they can lift spirits.

The Russian dictator is doing what dictators do: lying in the face of raw naked aggression.

Here’s the LIE LIST:

• Putin claims that the invasion is a “special operation” for the “demilitarization and denazification” of Ukraine.  
• Putin claims that Nazis run Ukraine and the invasion is a sequel to the Great Patriotic War.  
• Putin claims that Ukraine is developing weapons of mass destruction.  .
• Putin claims that Russia is encircled by NATO. Ukraine is not a member, and its candidacy is not under discussion.  

American liars such as Donald Trump and Tucker Carlson are lying on behalf of the Russian dictator. Trump called Putin a “genius” the other day. Wrong. Putin is just the latest in a long line of Russian tyrants with bloodstained hands.

Russian imperialism may be rewarded in the short term but in the long term this could doom Putin. Ukraine is a large country with a population of 44 million. Does he plan to occupy Ukraine indefinitely in the face of a possible insurgency? That worked so well for the United States in Vietnam and Iraq and for the Soviet Union in Afghanistan.

I thought Putin was bluffing because an invasion of Ukraine is not in his interest. Putin’s personal lockdown during the pandemic has left him isolated and fixated on Ukraine.

Putin’s revanchist impulses have led to this war of choice. From the Ukrainian perspective, this is a war in defense of freedom and self-determination. The Trumpist right has misappropriated the word freedom. It’s time to take it back.

The last word goes to the music of Modest Mussorgsky with two versions of The Great Gate of Kyiv.