By JOHN J. METZLER
Vladimir Putin has rolled the dice. And now he has moved militarily into Ukraine.
Significantly, shortly after the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, Putin began his dismemberment of Ukraine in the Donbas then Crimea. Washington watched but did little. It appears that the Russian despot is following the same script by supporting pro-Russian stooge regimes inside Ukraine’s territory: Donetsk and Luhansk “republics.”
As UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres warned, “The decision by the Russian Federation to recognize the so-called ‘independence’ of certain areas of Donetsk and Luhansk is a violation of the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine.”
He added, “It is time for restraint, reason, and de-escalation.”
But during a late-night emergency meeting of the Security Council, Putin struck. Jolted delegates faced the inevitable; a massive land war in Europe. Secretary General Guterres implored, “President Putin, stop your troops from attacking Ukraine, give peace a chance.”
Later U.S. President Joe Biden stated: Putin “has chosen a premeditated war that will bring a catastrophic loss of life and human suffering.”
In the meantime, President Biden has pugnaciously warned Putin about the consequences of an invasion, and slammed an escalating series of economic sanctions on Russia aimed at deterring further aggression. Equally among European states, most notable has been Germany’s suspension of the controversial Nordstream 2 pipeline which makes central Europe even more dependent on Russian energy supplies.
Russia is planning “the biggest war in Europe since 1945” warned British Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Indeed the attack became a massive armored blitzkrieg with flanking maneuvers heading for Kiev the capital. Putin’s propaganda preposterously claimed that Russia is the victim and threatened by Ukraine and the West. The stark reality is tragically unfolding before us.
Following the Afghanistan debacle, the Ukraine conflict represents the second major foreign policy setback for the United States in six months!
The Kremlin arrogantly views a sovereign Ukraine as a “little brother,” under the protection of Mother Russia’s direct control. Putin doesn’t wish to devastate Ukraine, but to destroy its sovereignty and turn the region into a compliant comrade as during Soviet times.
Since October there has been a steady drumbeat of threats and fears that the Russians would attack Ukraine, largely because that sovereign country wishes to join NATO in the future.
Weeks of intense diplomacy saw Putin become the epicenter of global attention as French, British, German, and other diplomats rushed to the Kremlin to talk peace. Putin — with bemused contempt and a twinkling smirk – reminds them of their energy vulnerability and dependence on a spider web of Russian gas pipelines which bind them all together.
An information war has reached full spin cycle between Moscow and Washington. Claims, charges, and countercharges have created a chaos of confusion abetting Putin’s plans.
Theatrics aside, an American/Russian military clash through miscalculation is totally possible during this dangerous “grey zone conflict” posturing and wider conflict.
Following the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the subsequent collapse of the former Soviet East Bloc, the Atlantic Alliance was expanded to former members of Moscow’s Warsaw Pact. This was a bitter pill for Russia to accept. Poland, the Czech Republic, and Hungary joined NATO in 1999 and the Baltic States in 2004. Russia opposes any further NATO enlargement, especially on its frontiers.
This conflict with the Kiev government has been simmering since 2014; now the war has exploded.
But Ukraine’s tough and inspiring President Volodymyr Zelensky serves as a rallying point for freedom in his beleaguered country.
Nonetheless neither NATO nor the U.S. is treaty bound to defend Ukraine as we are Poland or Lithuania. Still, since 2014 the U.S. has provided more than $2.5 billion in military aid to Ukraine.
The UN General Assembly has met in urgent session to soundly condemn Moscow’s actions. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba issued a dire warning:
“We are currently in the midst of the largest security crisis in Europe since the Second World War. “The crisis was created and is being escalated by one side unilaterally, by the Russian Federation.”
He added, “The beginning of a large-scale war in Ukraine will be the end of the world order as we know it.”
American Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield stated that “we stand at a crossroads in the history of this body” (UN). And: “Russia’s actions are an unprovoked violation of international law, of Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.”
“The world is calling for peace, but Russia is not listening,” United Kingdom Ambassador Barbara Woodward affirmed.
Clearly there’s no sane alternative for Europe.
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