Russia and Ukraine
Michael > March 2nd, 2022, 01:18 AM
The war in eastern Europe is appalling, and based on news reports today it may spill over into Moldova soon if Belarus joins Russia.
I'm a bit surprised that people were surprised, though. I refrained from pontificating about it during Putin's "training exercises" but I did tell my wife (I say as if she'll stand before the world and vindicate me) that you don't put nearly 200,000 troops on the border of some country if you don't intend to use them.
Not being a military buff, however, I kept silent because I would quickly wander into the territory of "not knowing what I'm talking about." For example, I AM surprised at how demoralized Putin's forces are. I feel pity for them, being thrust into a war they didn't want, know they would fight, and don't understand.
I could speculate on how decades of bad U.S. foreign policy contributed to all this, but we're not alone in the realm of foreign policy. I think every major nation in the world has exhibited bad foreign policy decade after decade. It's not easy to run a country regardless of how well-intentioned or selfish you are. All these democratically elected leaders, hereditary monarchs, and self-appointed dictators are balancing 10 twenty-foot poles on the palms of their hands while bouncing from one foot to another, and spinning around trying to "engage in diplomacy" with one another.
It all seems so inevitable. Every war offends the common people, and elicits sympathy from them for each other. But the "leaders" keep making and breaking promises, or decide that certain things must be so, and they don't stop to consider that their actions will draw in or compel other "leaders" to retaliate. As long as anyone can claim moral justification for their decisions, they express no guilt over the consequences of their choices gone wrong.
All of which is to say, I think there's plenty of blame to go around. Maybe there should have been a formal treaty guaranteeing Ukraine's neutrality - instead of "assurances". Maybe it wouldn't have mattered. Putin was emboldened by 20 years of western politics. He might have done this no matter what the West did. Maybe the day the Soviet Union disintegrated he vowed to himself that he would find a way to restore it. We'll probably never know.
But we'll all get to watch in horror as his unwilling hordes invade and carve up Ukraine, and perhaps other nations.
Moldova, for those who aren't sure, is NOT a member of NATO. Like Ukraine, it will stand alone if attacked.