Putin ... Zelenskyy

I confess, I have no special knowledge to say anything about a foreign war.   But I have a need to express what I think.  This essay assumes that Putin and Russia are the bad guys and that Zelenskyy and Ukraine are the good guys.  Putin and much of Russia would disagree.

Putin and Mother Russia are waging a war of destruction on Ukraine, a sovereign nation.  It is lovely how united the rest of the world has become with economic sanctions.  But, even putting war casualties aside, Putin’s actions have already cost tens if not hundreds of trillions of dollars of physical damage in Ukraine that will not be paid back even if Putin comes to his senses and ends his war of aggression.  And what reason have we to assume that Ukraine is all that Putin wants?  Agreed that NATO may be a threat to Russia, even if NATO has shown no aggressive intentions on Russia, it is understandable that Russia may feel more threatened with Ukraine joining NATO.  But “we can destroy you and your country; and the rest of the world had better not help out or we will unleash what you cannot imagine on you” cannot lead anywhere good.  And maybe economic sanctions are only chips in a high-stakes poker game.

My point is: there is no reason to believe that Putin can be turned around by non-military actions of any world leaders.  That, therefore, NATO, the European Union, the USA, and even the rest of the world, needs to be ready to fight a real war with Russia, and the sooner the better.  What do I mean?  We should all re-institute the DRAFT.  We all hope that this just goes away; but what if it does not just go away?  The demon has warned us.  “Be prepared for a war of annihilation if you dare to try to stop me.”

The Russian economy has been frightfully damaged.  But has that stopped the war on Ukraine?  FDR did not wait for the Day of Infamy to begin to prepare for war.  He knew that his hands were tied by a nation that was 85% isolationist all the way up to December 7^th.  But he did what he could to prepare for war well before his nation was forced to wake up.  More than a year before Pearl Harbor, he re-instituted the Draft and beefed up the size of the Army and the National Guard.

We need to stop waiting in the hopes that Putin is not the 21^st Century’s country-destroying madman.  We need to get serious: if Putin continues to act aggressively, even before he attacks us, our own economy will be thrown into its own toilet.  We need to act as though we are preparing for war; it is the best way to avoid having to fight that war, or to win it if – heaven forbid – it begins.

What if Putin decides to have Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy murdered?   Will we send our condolences?  The only way to make a bully stand down is to show him that WE will not stand down and that we are prepared.

Vive Zelenskyy!  Vive Ukraine! 

This just in!!!  What a surprise!

Addendum: Monday, 02/21/2023

As of now, some 7,000 to 30,000 Ukranian civilians have been killed in the war.  As of now, some 100,000 plus Ukranian soldiers have been killed or wounded in the war.  As of now, some 200,000 plus Russian soldiers have been killed or wounded in the war.  It is about time for President Zelenskyy to launch attacks on military bases if not civilian populations in Russia!  Thank God that I am not the leader of a nation at war!