What is it with the Russian leadership that they foolishly continue to initiate wars with their neighbors in which they pay heavily for their expansion attempts and end up both bloodied and humiliated? Back in 1939, a million of their troops invaded Finland and although “winning,” were met with an unexpected, massive resistance that weakened them for the German onslaught of 1941. Then again, in 1978, the Soviets sent massive amounts of manpower into primitive Afghanistan leading to a meaningless an endless war that many attribute to the termination of the Soviet Union. We believe this past month’s invasion of Ukraine by the dictator of Russia, Vladimir Putin, will end up with his demise as that country’s leader. This war for expansion move is doomed for failure. These imperialistic Russkies never seem or want to learn from their escapades. They are bullies.
This time, their victims, the Ukrainian people, have shown miraculous resistance to this great world power, a nuclear one, at that. One can only wonder what effect the many body bags containing the remains of young Russians being unloaded for their grieving families to mourn over, will have on the domestic political scene. Already reports from within Russia hint that thousands of street protesters have been arrested for protesting this latest war. And there’s surely more of this to come.
And the sleeping world is finally awakening. There’s a ton of news that is not making Russian President-for-Life Putin a happy man. Just this weekend, the U.S. and Europe tossed a number of Russian banks off the SWIFT (Society for Western International Financial Telecommunication) banking system, cutting the country off a swath of international financial transactions. The nations of the world also imposed major restrictions on Russia’s central bank. The Russian ruble, its currency, dropped nearly 40% in value after these sanctions were imposed. There’s been a run on banks. People are not happy. Russia is paying dearly for its expansion move into Ukraine. And we haven’t seen the end to it yet.
The Ukrainian people, hungry for freedom after the break-up of the Soviet Union, will not collapse easily under this Russian onslaught. In a recent “Fox News Live” appearance, retired U.S. Army Lieutenant General Keith Kellogg said that he believes Vladimir Putin “has lost this war.” He continued,” There’s an old axiom, it’s not the size of the dog in the fight, it’s the size of the fight in the dog that counts, and you’re sitting there with Ukraine, and with the Ukraine fighting and the leadership of (its President) Zelenskyy.” Putin threw in huge numbers over the borders. Over one hundred and seventy thousand troops, all of his air forces, and the Ukrainians are standing up to him. Not only is the world stunned but they are uniting against this tyrant. A good sign for the future when China and Iran start their machinations to push their neighbors around.
There are already signs that Putin is regretting his lethal move. The Associated Press, in a telling one line story said, “Kremlin says Russia ready to send a delegation to Belarus for talks with Ukrainian officials following invasion.” A sign that he regrets his move. A sign that he’s going to lose. Israel’s Prime Minister Naftali Bennett also threw his hat into the ring to negotiate between the two battling nations, leading us to believe and pray that the war will be short lived one. This is a good move on the part of Israel. That tiny nation cannot get itself involved in this conflict. It has to maintain its relationship with Russia and at the same time must show its support for and compassion for the Ukrainian people. We feel strongly that Putin will come out of this unnecessary, one sided and inhumane conflict as the big loser. He not only deserves rebuke and removal from his position for his move but also should stand trial for war crimes committed by his invasion of a peaceful, democratic nation. He should end up behind bars…..for good.
