The idea that Putin, a man who has carried out a decades-long campaign of assassination against his critics, is somehow an ally against "cancel culture" is an absurdity. "Vladimir the Underpants Poisoner" has a history of canceling his critics in the most literal sense, with Polonium, nerve gas and bullets. Equally absurd is the idea that Russia is some sort of utopia of Christian culture and moral values, a fantasy projected by American conservatives onto a much uglier reality. As Anne Applebaum writes:

In reality, Russia has one of the highest abortion rates in the world, nearly double that of the United States. It has an extremely low record of church attendance, though the numbers are difficult to measure, not least because any form of Christianity outside of the state-controlled Orthodox Church is liable to be considered a cult. A 2012 survey showed that religion plays an important role in the lives of only 15% of Russians. Only 5% have read the Bible.

Or consider the courtroom speech of a young Russian dissident.

An impenetrable barrier divides our society in two. All the money is concentrated at the top and no one up there is going to let it go. All that's left at the bottom--and this is no exaggeration--is despair. Knowing that they have nothing to hope for, that no matter how hard they try, they cannot bring happiness to themselves or their families, Russian men take their aggression out on their wives, or drink themselves to death, or hang themselves. Russia has the world's [second-] highest rate of suicide among men. As a result, a third of all Russian families are single mothers with their kids. I would like to know: Is this how we are protecting the institution of the family?

But the reality of Russia doesn't matter, only the fantasy of a "Christian nationalist" nation to be contrasted to the supposed failures of our liberal society. And of course, as in a previous Western flirtation with Russian dictatorship, all of these people are "useful idiots" whose rants are shown on Russian state-controlled TV as propaganda to support Putin's invasion.

To get an idea of what's at stake for our domestic politics, check out the Twitter feed of Sohrab Ahmari, op-ed editor for the New York Post, which is basically a long nervous exchange between him and fellow Christian nationalist Adrian Vermeule downplaying the Ukrainians' chances, mocking them for their "false hopes," disparaging the motives and characters of Ukrainian leaders, engaging in moral equivalence between Putin and the West, and dismissing the vast and nearly unanimous outpouring of support for Ukraine as "herd mentality and liberal arrogance."

It is as if they know the game is over. Putin's murderous madness has already exposed the vicious inhumanity of the Christian nationalist and integralist models. How can a man who forces kindergarteners into bunkers claim any kind of moral high ground? But worse, every day that Ukraine holds out exposes the weakness of Putin's social model. The nationalists like to thump their chests about returning to a stronger creed--but what if modern Western liberalism proves itself the stronger creed?