Running downhill with scissors, Russian President Vladimir Putin continues to goad himself into a self-destructive response to a war he unleashed and now can’t collar.
Putin’s mighty dogs of war have turned tail, his concocted chickens are home to roost. His would-be cannon fodder would rather abandon their own homeland than fight for him in Ukraine. Placing blame on everyone but himself while becoming more and more of a cornered pariah, Putin keeps on talking the talk but is unable to walk the walk. The more he threatens, the more resolved and numerous his enemies become.
Whatever the provocation, believed justification or rationalization, Russia unilaterally overran Ukraine’s sovereign borders and started an all-out war of brutal aggression declaring that Ukraine has “no right to exist” while simultaneously claiming to be its liberator. Rather than embracing such liberation, millions of Ukrainians ran to the sanctuary of their NATO neighbors while others stayed to fight for their freedom from Russia.
Desperate and humiliated, Russia chooses to double down on targeting civilians, perpetrating war crimes with complete disregard for fundamental human rights, rules of engagement and international law. Russia’s absolute ruthlessness and inhumanity in all regards certainly holds its own against any previous incarnations of heinous and insane conflict.
Does this make the Russian people evil? No more so than the populace of any nation actually embodies its governance. All people are capable of the worst behavior. Most people simply deny that possibility, or that their homeland has that capacity and is on the wrong side of history. Looking away is easier than looking in the mirror. Russians having far less democracy in their oppressive autonomy, have far less culpability than their American or NATO counterparts for the actions of their elected leadership
On the world stage of geopolitical gamesmanship, the people of any nation have very minor roles – especially in the chaotic and violent narrative of war. Unfortunately, the die is cast at the ballot box, and those small speaking parts are best heard before being coerced by the illegitimate din of combat.
In the heat of battle, one fifth of Ukraine is now claimed as another mandated legal annexation by Russia, never to be renegotiated, a permanent acquisition unless one wants to risk world annihilation.
What is a person of peace to do with that? Acquiesce another appeasement on Putin’s terms? Should Russia’s ongoing aggression be given another Crimea-type pass when Putin has publicly stated his objective of eventually seizing all of Ukraine, that total “unification” is Russia’s destiny? Chess clearly isn’t Putin’s forte as much as dominoes – or the game of chicken.
Dominoes originated in China and Beijing is a very good chess player. Taiwan is a crucial piece in play, but far more so is the so-called “nine dash line” in the South China Sea. China is set on unseating the U.S. as the leading world economy, and control over maritime territorialism is paramount for their economic and energy security. Eighty percent of its energy imports and 40% of its total trade depend on sea routes controlled by international law rather than China’s dominion, so China opts to build man-made islands to extend its territorial rights despite infringing on the sovereignty of neighboring nations. This is what is pushing Asia-Pacific nations to embrace NATO and ally with the U.S..
Any belief that the U.S. causes world conflict has plenty of credence, but believing that the U.S. is the sole bad actor is a disingenuous denial of a far more complex and harrowing reality. Similarly, believing the dismantling of NATO would reduce rather than embolden conflict is likely one of those “be careful what you wish for” arguments, with little historical support when assessing pre-NATO geopolitics.
The sad reality isn’t that the U.S. is forcing nations to arm themselves to the teeth or invite U.S./NATO protection. It is that the U.N. has failed to find a solution to the problems caused by a few “superpower” nations.
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