“Perceptions,” by Gerry Warner

Op-Ed Commentary

I’m going to level with you. Two weeks ago, I promised not to write another column until the Russian/Ukrainian war was over. That turned out to be a lie because here comes another which, might explain why I’m so disgusted.

As much as I loathe what Putin is doing, I’m even more upset with us for doing too little to stop the cruel catastrophe unfolding in Ukraine. War is supposed to be a battle between armies. But Putin’s army is randomly executing civilians in the streets killing women, children and other non-combatants. That’s not “war.” It’s genocide! Genocide is a crime against humanity. It falls outside the norms of civilization and calls for a special response.

And what might that special response be? Simple. Give the brave but outnumbered Ukrainian forces what they need to win the war – weapons, air support and boots on the ground, which considering how well the Ukrainian army has performed to date, would guarantee a victory over the Cossack hordes in short order.

What about the possibility this could lead to nuclear war as Putin cunningly suggested before sending his troops over Ukraine’s border expecting to be in Kyiv within three days. But they didn’t make it, did they? And there’s a reason. A reason that most people are overlooking even though it’s lying before them in plain sight.

Russia is not a superpower anymore. Certainly, Russia is a big country, with a big army, lots of shiny weapons and a lot of attitude thanks to former KGB spymaster Putin. But big does not necessarily mean strong and in Russia’s case it’s showing already with the weak showing of its troops on the ground and being pushed back by an army of a country not even a quarter of its size.  In fact, Russia today is like Turkey more than a hundred years ago when the Ottoman Empire collapsed and it was called “the sick man of Europe.”

Consider these facts.

When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, it was the second biggest economy in the world and a military powerhouse. Today Russia is the 11^th biggest economy on Earth and dropping fast under the weight of world-wide Western sanctions. That alone saps Russia’s ability to fight.

As well as this, Putin and his former KGB cronies have bled the country dry of much of its financial strength with their private jets, costly yachts and lavish mansions. Russia today is a kleptocracy, a hollowed-out country with most of its strength and wealth in the hands of a mafioso gang of oligarchs while the state tries to survive on the crumbs falling from their tables. Perhaps the most telling statistic is the life expectancy of Russian males which is 68.2 years according to Statista compared to close to 80 in most advanced Western countries. And Russian men have one of the highest alcoholism rates in the world.

In other words, Russia today is the “sick man” of Europe and sick men don’t win wars.

But Russia is still a nuclear power and Putin may be psychotic enough to use his nukes. This can’t be ignored. But NATO is a nuclear power too and if Russia attempted a nuclear strike the brunt of the damage would occur on Russian ground, not the West. Admittedly, this is cold comfort, but it’s more comfort than Russia has and the Russian military painfully knows it.

So where does this leave us? We can continue to watch Ukraine die a slow death as the Russians grind the brave country into the ground, a ghastly process that could take months if not years and kill thousands. Or we could say to Putin, we’ve got nukes too and instead of blowing up the planet why don’t we sit down and negotiate and save Ukrainian and Russian lives. And maybe save the world too. In other words, use diplomacy, the only way wars are ever settled.

If Putin won’t budge, send in NATO troops which will make short work of the Russian troops on the ground and they know it. If Russia responds with nukes,

we’ll respond the same and make short work of Russia! That’s the horrifying possibility we’re facing now unless some sane Russian removes Putin from power and saves the world from nuclear catastrophe.

Surely there’s at least one sane Russian left in the Kremlin?

– Gerry Warner is a retired journalist, who’s not ready to feed Ukraine to the Russians.

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