Dan Rather talks about our shock at War: the panic across Ukraine, the shattering of the sense of stability in Europe and the world, the testing of NATO, Putin’s motives and more.

For the full report go to: Reacting to War
Excerpts below:

“Panic spreads across Ukraine as the sounds of death echo across its cities and countryside. … We can picture the parents desperately trying to soothe the fears of their children, even as they wonder with sickening uncertainty about how they can protect their families. 

The tragedy ripples outward. A sense of stability has been shattered in Europe, and around the globe. There are other countries, like the Baltic states, who must wonder what Putin’s plans are for them.

What Putin’s motives really are for destabilizing our world order are hard to definitively discern. Perhaps he himself doesn’t know. …

A lot of the justification for this conflict, including among Putin’s cheerleaders in the United States, has been that this was provoked by the West, that it was due to the encroachment of NATO to the Russian borders. … Far more damaging to Putin’s visions of Russian power is the example that Ukraine poses as a counternarrative. …

I suspect [Putin] will be considered a villain in the histories he does not have the power to rewrite.”