Thus The Economist in the main leader to its current issue. “The sad reality is that Vladimir Putin is winning in Ukraine,” explains the newspaper. “The west must steel itself for a lengthy struggle.” Indeed. The bickering western leaders are powerless against him, as he is answerable only to himself. The leader offers little else, anyhow. But its terse title says it all. It is buttressed by the front cover showing a chessboard, a bunch of fallen black figures including the black queen, and Putin himself lurking behind the white king. He started the war, and he is in the lead for the time being. The best the so-called west can do is to settle for the long game, but the mighty newspaper offers few clues as to how Putin could be defeated. Stop bickering is one of them. Find other sources of cheap energy is another. And forget about Ukraine, which is as good as lost already. Hey, this is pretty clever! As well as too optimistic by half. For the metaphor of a long chess game might well be wrong in this case. The world is facing several hotspots at this juncture, and Eastern Europe could become one of them quickly enough. Chess, what chess?