It strikes me that Putin is simply seeking recognition and power in the war on Ukraine. He has nothing to gain, no explicit prejudice against the people of Ukraine, and they did not cause offence or initiate an attack. As an individual Putin frightens me because the war seems entirely about his ego needing feeding. And as a man in charge of a country, an entire lack of alternative motive for the war is fundamentally scary.
Indeed Putin has killed, sent his army into battle, and bombed vulnerable civilians yet refuses to call these attacks as war. He is manipulating his own citizens into invasion, has lied to his soldiers about their objectives prior to deployment, and in peace negotiations poisoned his opposite contingent. In this case, one can only wonder about the justification for assassinating him. Would Putin’s removal stop the war or are his colleagues in government in agreement with the war effort? We would hope not.
My impression is that Putin is blank as a character. His colleagues and officials also seem bland and lacking character. Who did Putin need to ask for authority to invade, were there any decision based controls around him in order to minimise risk of an unnecessary and unjustifiable war. Putin has not even shown remorse regarding the children who have been injured and died, or the entire evacuation of the Ukrainian citizens. There is a complete dearth of compassion and zero understanding of the sacrifices or both populations. Is Putin simply a psychopath with a deficit of human consideration, devoid of emotion and humanity? This seeming to be the case, how do we contain this dangerous man and remove him from office? Should someone decide to assassinate him, does this perpetuate the belief that others have the right to judge him as a man? In assassination, does the assassin become similar to the assassinated whatever the justification for Putin’s ultimate removal.
Should Russia win this bizarre war, what do they gain as a nation? An empty country with a trail of devastation in their towns and cities. Surely the reconstruction of their infrastructure if occupied by Russia will be untenable as a cost. Or is that the Russians intention, to use the Ukrainian territory for something other than governing additional citizens? I gather that Ukraine have various natural resources like petrol and gas, but there are few left who could extract this in their population and who would want to stay under Russian rule?
My mind keeps coming back to how Russia’s population can resist their leader and undermine the path to war. Each country the Ukrainian leader asks for help respond that any involvement could escalate to the third world war. So how do we combat this insane act by a man subjected to little opposition within his own government? The last time I looked Russia was pretending to be a democracy, however it would seem Putin has adjusted his term to be lifelong. Who allowed this? A democracy without the opportunity for their people to vote or protest is not a democracy? Sanctions do not appear to have worked. People are still dying, Russian and Ukrainian. I for one want a world where any invader is contained; where peaceful negotiation is the order of the day and an adversary that refuses this route is imprisoned for refusing to partake in the negotiation.
In a global community, we should not be able to exclude any country from NATO and the United Nations. By nature of being a global community, surely every country should be included by default on the basis that without this forum, dictators like Putin can act without resistance. It’s the opposite view to the current status quo but makes more sense to me as no one leader can dominate without limits. Let’s limit the man. He’s the current global threat as ultimately it could end in nuclear war that will destroy our climate and affect everyone, where does the next one come from and how do we prevent such actions?
Someone in power please contain the man before he invades another territory on a whim… Just a thought! Couldn’t we just arrest him. In my opinion an inclusive and global NATO would enable this and prevent further bloodshed as he would not have a choice.
Love Ruth x
Header photo by Elena Mozhvilo on Unsplash
Well Thought Through 