Putin, like Hitler, brags about what he intends to do, legal or not. Then he does it. His long-term objective is a greater Russia, larger than the Soviet Union was, with him as the sole ruler of the largest empire on earth. Russia is already the largest in area, eleven time zones wide. He complains, without evidence, that the only threat to his hegemony is NATO’s intention to invade and dismember Russia. No, democracies do not invade another democracy.
Putin is following the Soviet Union model, so popular with dictators and bullies. Steal a region or lunch money, after a while agree to negotiations, then settle for a portion and promise that’s all you wanted. Then start to negotiate for the other half. Repeat. World conquering dictators found a template. Read the Bill of Rights, then violate every one of its principles. Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
Communism was the soviet religion and policy, speak you mind, go to prison. Dictators smash the printing presses, take over the transmitters, send tanks to break up public gathering and confiscate all the weapons. Ask a Pole about gun control or a Ukrainian, bet they wish they kept their nukes. That’s just the first two amendments. Mao said “Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun.” Then there is looting, search and seizure, no due process. The colonists fought a different dictator, George III and learned these lessons 250 years ago.
The United Nations was formed in 1945 to bestow the same rights on all its members, but they made a major mistake. The five permanent members of the Security Council were given veto power; one of them was already a dictatorship and another soon became one. Nations with nothing left to lose, can be tough negotiators. That veto made the UN powerless when it really mattered. To defend order the major democracies formed NATO; Article 5, says an attack on one member is an attack on all, much like the three musketeer’s creed: All for one. The things Putin has already done are a surreptitious indirect attack on other nations some of whom are members. Poland has welcomed two and a half million Ukrainian refugees. As many more are scattered around Europe disrupting normal life.
Military activity emits pollution, armored vehicles don’t run on good-will, they run on smoky diesel fuel, lots of it. Burning buildings and tanks smoke and much of that smoke is toxic from plastic materials. Russian soldiers digging up Chernobyl exposed themselves and all of Europe to radiation. Those pollutants do not recognize political boundaries they go everywhere. They might be detectable in the London, or Poughkeepsie. Those are essentially chemical weapons. A lot of farm land won’t be planted, food prices around the world will skyrocket. The G20 successful nations can survive that, but poor nations peoples will go hungry. Europeans will suffer a cold winter without Russian gas. The semiconductor industry depends on neon from Ukraine. The list goes on and on.
It does not take projectiles or bombs to attack another. Cutting off their air, food, water and fuel is just as deadly and, in some ways, crueler. That was how most conquests in the medieval world went. Surround a city, cut off food and water. We need to kick Putin’s thugs out of Ukraine yesterday. What is the real difference between giving Ukraine a 25-ton tank or a 25-ton Mig29? Giving Ukraine a cruise missile or firing it from a warship at a Russian tank. Putin’s bankrupt gas station, pretending to be a super power has a smaller economy than California. The economies of just the top ten NATO members add up to over 100 times Russia’s. Putin cannot afford the war he has started, but the only thing in the way of his goal of world conquest is NATO. There is no guarantee he won’t use nukes as it is. Stop him before he invades the Baltic states too. Call his bluff.
Ken Obenski is a forensic engineer, now safety and freedom advocate in South Kona. He writes a biweekly column for West Hawaii Today. Send feedback to obenskik@gmail.com