Rockets and missiles are leveling these towns and cities, but the Ukrainians continue to fight on, never surrendering.
The Russians have just bombed Yacoriv, Ukraine, just ten miles from the Polish border.
Poland, unlike Ukraine, is a member of NATO, so once Russia goes into Poland, NATO will have to respond.
Biden fears sending soldier and aircraft into Ukraine, fearing that this will start World War III with Russia.
This does make sense, but unfortunately, Vladimir Putin is taking advantage of this situation by bombing and leveling Ukrainian cities, without any regard to the targets: hospitals, schools, residential neighborhoods, even refugees trying to flee Ukraine.
Putin, quite simply, wants to annex all of Ukraine and rebuild the old Soviet Union. He does not care if the Ukrainians don’t want this, and “if we have to bomb Ukraine to the ground and kill every single Ukrainian to extinction, we’ll do it!”
THAT is the Putin mentality, and that makes Putin Pure Evil. Putin does not care what the rest of the world thinks.
Every Ukrainian citizen is willing to fight the Russians to the death - and they are doing it. So far, they have killed about 7,000 Russian soldiers and destroyed amany tanks, trucks, aircraft, and ships.
The Russian soldiers themselves are young conscripts who are unable and unwilling to fight. They’ve been deceived, being told that they are simply going on maneuvers, not knowing that they are being made to kill their fellow Slavs. These soldiers are mostly amateurs, although high ranking officials, including four generals, and special forces brigades have been killed by Ukrainians, also. As a result, morale among the Russian troops is sinking low.
Volunteers from all over the world are coming to help the Ukrainians fight the Russians. I myself would like to see American militias from the over the South and West (of the U.S.) come over with the store of weapons. That would really boost the Ukrainians. What would also boost them would be the MiG-29 fighter jets from Poland that were promised Ukraine, but were stalled.
President Joseph Biden is dealing with a tyrant with nuclear, chemical, and Biological arms, and this tyrant, Vladimir Putin, is becoming more and more power mad, so Biden is right to be cautious, so do not judge him too harshly. Biden has been sending massive arms to the Ukrainians, and these very arms have inflicted heavy casualties on the Russians and continue to do so.
However, with their attacks becoming more powerful and ruthless, Biden may have no choice but to send NATO aircraft to establish a no-fly zone over all of Ukraine.
In addition, we should let Poland send their MiG-29s to Ukraine and let the Ukrainian pilots deal with the Russian pilots flying over Ukraine. They are presently doing so with their own aircraft.
This is a big risk, and it will no doubt anger the Russian military, not to mention Putin himself, but they may think twice before advancing any further, including resorting to nuclear arms.
Biden, as cautious as he had been, was still helping the Ukrainians in whatever way he could, but now he will have to do more.
Biden will have to take a big risk and go further into unknown territory.
What will happen if and when the war ends?
Ukraine will be separate from Russia now and forever. The Ukrainians will want this, and they will remember this point in time.
Many has suggested that Ukraine be divided, giving Eastern Ukraine, the Russian speaking region, to Russia and let the Ethnic Ukrainians be independent, and never join NATO.
This is dead on arrival. The Russian Ukrainians themselves have suffered equally through this invasion, and the vast majority have experienced freedom and turned against Putin, and this invasion have pushed them into the Ukrainian camp.
I have previously believed that dividing Ukraine, with Southern and Eastern Ukraine joining Russia (of their own preference) and Western Ukraine being independent and joining the European Union would be in the best interest of everybody. Putin’s invasion of Ukraine has killed this idea once and for all.
All of Ukraine is now united like never before.
As for the Donbass region, keep it in Ukraine and send any Russian sympathizer back to Russia.
Putin should get nothing.
Crimea being given back to Ukraine is up in the air. Crimea has always been Russian. It was in 1954 that Khrushchev, on a whim decided to give Crimea to Ukraine as a “good-will gesture.” It is rumored that he was drunk with he did this, for this occurred at a function/party. Anyway, it didn’t matter back then, because both Russia and Ukraine were a part of the old Soviet Union.
It didn’t become a problem until 1991, when the U.S.S.R. disbanded.
The people of Crimea found themselves in a ‘foreign country.’
In 2004, Russian troops marched in and took it, and the people cheered.
What would be fitting here is hold a referendum, an honest one, giving these people a choice to 1) remain part of Russia, 2) rejoin Ukraine, or 3) Become an independent country.
This time, the ballots would be secret and the referendum would be overseen by an international committee, which will include the United States.
In hindsight, Khrushchev should have kept Crimea in Russia.
Ukraine will join the European Union.
Ukraine will become part of NATO, never again to be subjugated to attack from Russia, and never again for the whole world to watch without helping them to defend themselves. (They are, but again, not enough.)
One question for Russia is, was this war necessary? Did they have to attack Ukraine? One stated reason is that Russia didn’t want Ukraine to join NATO, but NATO wasn’t about to admit Ukraine anytime soon. Another reason is that Putin wants to reunite all the Russian people presently living in other countries under one roof. I would like to point out that for Russians living abroad, they, and the Russian government, must realize that any Russian living in any other country must abide by the laws and customs of that country, or they can move back to Russia.
The simple answer is GREED! Russia wanted more land and restore the old Soviet Union.
Russia is the biggest country in the world, expanding over 11 time zones, from Eastern Europe to the Asiatic land mass, all the way to the Bering Strait.
They never needed to take one more square inch of land from any other country, including both Ukraine and Crimea (I regard Crimea as separate).
If, after Russia became its own separate country, and honored their agree to respect the territorial integrity of all other countries (including Ukraine, Belarus, and Georgia), they could have focused on building their own country up with the land and resources they already have.
Russia has all that land for both farming and mineral wealth that the do not need land from any other country. Suppose they accepted this, and developed their farmland and mineral wealth. They would be able to have the entire population live a high quality of life, with the vast majority of the Russian people being middle class.
Industries could used these minerals to manufacture literally anything they want.
The Russian government would, of course, set the rule for any and all companies, foreign or domestic. In turn, Russia would become one of the richest countries in the world, with a loyal population.
They would be a world within a world.
They would be part of the West, with the U.S., Europe, China, and Japan, being both a peaceful competitors and allies, with beneficial trade.
There would be no need for a threatening military. If this were the case, there would be no need for a NATO, and half their problems would be solved. At the same time, nobody would ever threaten them. When circumstances dictate, they can say “No,” thereby controlling their own resources, and neither would they make enemies.
The Russians would have gained so much more in farming, industry, and trade than they ever would have in war.
This is the way the present world should have been.
When the Soviet Union broke up in 1992, this was the scenario I was hoping for, and through my own writings, I tried everything I could in my abilities to make it this way, by contributing my ideas to certain publications.
Alas, the U.S. government still had a mistrust towards Russia, and then-President Boris Yeltsin, in 1999, made the fatal mistake of appointing Vladimir Putin his successor. I did not like the looks of Putin, especially the expression on his face.
Then, the new Russia did have democratic system where the governments in each of the 89 provinces duly elected their leaders, but then Putin abolished this system and had their local governments appointed by the Kremlin, meaning Putin himself.
From that point on, I knew Putin would lead the Russian people back into a tyranny.
So this is where we are today.
Russia has a long history of being invaded, from the Mongols to the Nazis, but this does not justify their actions in Ukraine today.
The human side to this is that it isn’t the Russian people, it’s Putin,
Putin will stop at nothing to get what he wants, and that makes him dangerous. He has to be stopped, even if it means sending NATO and U.S. aircraft and troops; even if it means further hostilities from the Russians.
We must show Putin that he is not invincible, nor can he go into any country he wants and take it.
For the sake of Ukraine, Europe, and the world, Putin must be stopped; now, before it is too late!
Alastair Browne
