Do we want to live in the world where democratic states are protected by an international system of rules, however flawed and inconsistent that system might be? Or do we want to live in Vladimir Putin’s world, governed by the law of the jungle and where the only right is might?

We think we know which side we’re on. We want to stand with those bleary-eyed children, clutching their coloring books as they bed down in a Kyiv subway station. We tell ourselves we stand with them and against Putin and his war of aggression.

But do we? Because Putin had hardly kept his worldview secret until now. On the contrary, he had acted on it at least three times in the past 15 years, each time paying little price.