I have a completely different view about the catastrophe unfolding in Ukraine. I’m disappointed with the decisions of the United States and NATO allies not to checkmate Russia militarily. It’s simply a repeat of the Syrian debacle when Barack Obama’s US boasted about a non-existent “red line”, which were later crossed with impunity while America was caught flat-footed.
You don’t start a war if you are dead scared of bodybags rolling in. It was wrong for the US and its Western allies, therefore, to urge Ukraine on to join NATO and defy Russia without an ironclad assurance of defending the country in case of Vladmir Putin’s Russia’s invasion. Indeed, Putin had invaded both neighbouring and long-distant countries without the West ready to put boots on the ground. Any student of power in international relations should know that deterrence starts with the high probability of consequential retaliations for an aggressive country. Politics of appeasement is an incentive to aggression, not deterrence. Russia has got away with the violation of this over and over again.
Yes, the US and NATO will continue their saber rattling and threats of economic sanctions while Putin’s Russia will continue its creation of buffer zones around the enclave.
Ukraine has been deceived as Syria was. Lesson? No country should trust NATO or count on its protection where Russia’s strategic national interest is at a high stake. In the coming weeks or months, Ukraine will continue to morn its dead while the US and its allies think about how to ameliorate the economic consequences of the war.
Only one thing, in fact, can cause Putin’s Russia to rethink and even abandon its programme of conquest: coffins.
Segun Adediran, Ogun State
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