Putin’s ‘peacekeeping’ (cough) operation continues apace with increasing casualties on both sides and millions forced to flee their homes. Yep, it is a truism that the first causality of war is truth and Putin seems determined to hide the truth from his people shutting down radio and TV stations that dare to question his official line that everything is going to plan and passing laws providing for jail sentences of up to fifteen years for anyone speaking out against his madness Despite that tens of thousands of ordinary Russians have defied Putin and taken to the streets to protest … that takes real courage.
And you get a sense that Putin himself is feeling the pressure declaring that the sanctions imposed on his regime are akin to a declaration of war against Russia.
That takes me to the next point and while I can appreciate Zelenskyy’s increasingly desperate calls for NATO to impose a ‘No Fly Zone’ over the Ukraine in order to take the Russian Airforce out of the equation the reality is that would inevitably lead to a shooting war between NATO and Russia and that could be a precursor to nuclear war.
Meanwhile the sanctions are porous with Europe continuing to import Russian gas and the US Russian oil. Yes, the cutting off of those imports would have a negative impact in Europe and the US but measured alongside the other raft of sanctions it would bring the Russian economy to its knees. It is worth remembering that under Biden the US went from energy self sufficiency to energy dependent on Russia against the altar of climate change and this provides a salutatory lesson to us all about the danger of making your economy too tied/too dependent on another nation … our economy viz a viz China a case at point.
I note that two Republican Senators who participated in a zoom session with the Ukrainian President defied the request by the Ukranian Ambassador not to re-tweet pictures of where Zelenskyy was speaking from least those pictures provide intelligence to the Russian assassination squads targeting the President. Reckless and reprehensible at best. They deserve to pay a heavy price.
Finally and while Russia will win the war they will lose the peace. 43,192.122 Ukrainians will never forget or forgive while, for much of the world, Russia will become a pariah state whose word is never to be trusted. The madman Putin has much to answer for … not the least to his own people.
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