As I look upon the current conflict between Russia and Ukraine, I see a world in shame. We can ask ourselves, how did this ever happen? How did we get to this point? As has been said before, "all it takes for evil to succeed is for good men to standby and do nothing." It was in March of 1938 when Hitler invaded Austria under similar circumstances. Austrians spoke German, so Austria is part of Germany seemed to be the rationale. European nations condemned this act but took no action. Hitler then proceeded to invade Czechoslovakia, again with no repercussions. He then moved on Poland, and finally European nations took notice, and WWII began.
In March of last year, when Russia began to amass its forces along the Ukrainian border, the world stood by and did nothing. The USA even lifted sanctions put in place during the previous president's administration. Over the year since the world stood by and watched as Russia increased its forces on the Ukrainian border. In recent months, as the threat became more ominous and Russia's intentions became clear, world leaders, in particular President Biden, stated Russia would face sanctions if it invaded.
Russia has now invaded, and the world is now imposing sanctions, but at the same time, our leaders say we should not expect sanctions to work overnight. So if leaders knew sanctions would not have an immediate effect, why did they wait to impose them?
There seems to be a repeating pattern here. Why does history have to repeat itself for leaders to take action to prevent these types of events? I believe most people want world peace. But, how can world peace be affected without going to war? Of course, sanctions are a part of the answer, but condemnation also has to be part of the answer. Most importantly, any nation entering into an unprovoked conflict or acting aggressively against another nation, must be ostracized until such aggression ends and the conflict terminated. There will never be peace until all countries understand this concept.
This means nothing goes in, and nothing comes out of the aggressor country. No goods or services flow between the aggressor and any other country. No money flows in or out of the aggressor country. The aggressor must be completely cut off from the rest of the world. Many may say, but what about the people in the country? They should not suffer because of the actions of their leaders. While compassion and restraint are desirable qualities, there will be time for both once the aggressor no longer has power.
In the case of Russia and Ukraine, now is the time for all world leaders to take action. Moreover, now is the time for the UN, an otherwise useless organization, to take action. Without drastic action now, other belligerent leaders may see opportunity in the world's failure to act.
The world must recognize the bravery and courage shown by the Ukrainian people. They are standing up, not just for their liberty and values but for those of every person who values freedom. Their fight is the fight of all freedom lovers. Should they fail in their efforts, freedom everywhere will be at risk. Today it is Russia trying to take over Ukraine in an unprovoked war. Tomorrow it may be the same situation in a different part of the world. Your neighbor covets your fertile land, so he decides to come and take it. Bolivia wants access to the Pacific Ocean, so they invade Chile. China wants to bring Taiwan under their reign, so they invade. North Korea wants to unite the two Koreas, so they invade. China or Russia invades Mongolia to gain access to their resources. Etc., etc., etc. Unprovoked aggression must be condemned in the strongest terms, which means ostracizing the aggressor.
The current conflict could have been avoided if not for broken promises. So, rather than write a long rant, I refer you to, first an article on Fox News https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/clinton-obama-and-biden-caused-ukraine-crisis. Second, I suggest you watch the documentary "Ukraine on Fire."
Let us all pray our leaders come to their senses and act appropriately to prevent further escalation of this war, and they avoid future aggression by those who would destroy our freedom.
