Putin has declared war on all of us, and we still think its Ukraine’s war to fight

June 6, would mark 100 days since Russia invaded Ukraine with thousands of men and women killed. A fledgling Ukraine army is still standing and not broken by the battle-hardened and ruthless Russian Army. Thoughts and prayers have just been that, thoughts and prayers. Military and humanitarian aid hasn’t stopped the problem that needs to go away- the war, the bleeding, the massacre, the rapes, the destruction, and a nation on the brink of losing its land and independence. Most of the world wants to move on but the little evil man from Moscow seems to be in it for the long haul. Little in every sense since you are guilty of checking Putin’s height on Google. You most probably are taller than the man who has wrecked this terror on poor Ukrainian souls.

And now he is stealing Ukraine’s grain, and ours too because we may not access it on time, and want us to starve to death if not pay more for what he has stolen. Just for a moment think about someone stealing all the food from a neighbor after they have raped his wife and daughters-unimaginable right, but it’s happening. Putin has effectively waged an economic war on the world and hunger pangs will follow. Baby formula shortage in the US though unrelated may be a foreshadow of the desperation some will have to go through to get food because Russia is causing a global food shortage. Inflation will be our problem for a long time, and a global recession will come sooner rather than later. Yet we are made to believe that we are not already in World War III, thanks to the direct efforts of Mr. Putin ,and the indirect consequences of his actions. He is rattling world peace, reigniting pandemic-level stress on those who cannot afford fuel and food hikes, yet we still believe this is Ukraine’s war and not ours.

Here is a story that might explain where we are at. Once I walked on a busy street in my city, and a well-dressed man unexpectedly slapped me and walked away. Still in disbelief, I looked to see which direction he went still rubbing my cheek, only to see the man continue to slap other people until a group of men floored him. He was mentally ill, I wasn’t the first or last to be slapped on that street. Until there was an intervention, the man, mentally ill or not would have had a day of adventure slapping people and getting away with it. All am saying is that we are at the mercies of a mad man, all of us, until some brave soul comes along and puts the mad man in his place.

We all hoping this goes away and Putin runs out of options or at least come back to his senses if ever there was a time. Putin is always planning for war, while still in a war. He thought of invading Ukraine while he was still raining bombs on Aleppo, or even in Chechnya. Debating whether Putin became a darker soul during the pandemic because he was isolated is laughable, because Putin will always be Putin. We should be worried who he has set his sights to attack next, and prepare with good intelligence, we may have better outcomes. Putin is spoiling for a fight with anyone, now is the time to take up the challenge when his army is vulnerable, and finish the job for Ukrainians. Because I don’t see a Ukrainian victory without outside intervention, and a stalemate cannot be an option. We cannot let Putin learn from this war, we would rather have a decimated army than one that reinvents itself or regroups. Putin may just come back even stronger, to seize the whole of Europe sometime in the future.

Just like the oil Putin sells to the Europeans will never run dry, he will not run out of cash or options until he secures a victory. Russians would have to be taxed to death if Putin sees eminent defeat, and if the only option is starve them to ‘save Mother Russia’, he will do it. The cautious West will not go so far to defend Europe. The long phone calls for appeasement and giving empty threats by European leaders which Putin hasn’t sanctioned yet goes to demonstrate how weak the West’s hand is. Putin and his minions keep reminding us Russia has a nuclear option to have us do nothing. Where does all this leave us-waiting.

A lot of what we see in Ukraine can happen to any country in the world unless off course you are a NATO country, and you have partners you agree to disagree with fight for you. Its not always guaranteed that hold-outs like Turkey and Hungary will agree to fight on your behalf, just like they don’t want to have Finland and Sweden join NATO in Turkey’s case, and Hungary who wants to have it both ways-be a friend of Russia and member of NATO all at once. Russia has scared even the neutral once, and threatened to steal their land like it did Ukraine. Lets remind ourselves again that Russia has thousands of missiles that can reach anywhere in the world, if that is by any chance accurate, if we are a target, we might die by a nuclear warhead.

If we don’t want to see war continue, we better stop the war. If a war cannot be stopped through peaceful negotiations, then there is always an option to go to war to stop the enemy. And this is what we need right now. A powerful country, it doesn’t have to be the US, but one that’s in NATO, that will take the bull by its horns, it could even be China or North Korea if there is a lucky accident, and the crazies have to fight this one out, and we all watch who wins. While I wouldn’t count on these pariahs to fight each other, I will be counting on one of these NATO countries to stop Russia because its clear the world has had enough. Russia cannot have the upper hand to determine whose land to take, while we watch in disbelief in our ‘democratic’ spaces doing nothing. At some point in this war, the tide will turn, and no longer favor Putin’s sentiment or obsesses, and someone better be ready then it will be time to punish his excesses, not just the ICC. Its not too late to have Ukraine’s back, if not for moral reason, but deterrence because who knows who will be next to be slapped. I still believe Ukraine is fighting for all of us.

Long live Ukraine, Slava UKRAINI.