There is the perfidious notion out there that somehow, Ukraine stands in the way of peace. This is false. Ukraine has been invaded since 2014, without any cause or provocation other than that Russia wants control of the country for itself – either by conquest or remote control through a Russia-friendly tyrant like it was until the Euro-Maidan movement in 2013 – the third modern declaration of independence of Ukraine from the Russian yoke.
Ukraine wants peace. Russia wants the elimination of Ukraine and wants to reduce it to the barbarity of Russian rule. That is it. It is that simple. Everything else is noise and Russian (or Russian-inspired) psy-op.
NATO has never threatened Russia, only its ambition to claw back what it once held under its imperial control. There is no Russian “sphere of influence”, there is Russia and those who Russia seeks to dominate. We have heard Russian claims loud and clear: Russian rule from Lisbon till Vladivostok, from the North Pole to Africa. This is naked imperialism, of which Russia accuses NATO, of course, because such reversals seem to work towards those who actually by now shun outright imperialism and have indeed truly embraced freedom and democracy. And no, me saying this is no simplistic jingoism, but truth and true conviction – I have lived under Russian-Soviet tyranny and want none of it, and I have lived under American-guaranteed freedom and democracy and am enjoying any minute of it, comparatively. There is no alternative to democracy but tyranny — you are either with one side or the other. Ukraine chose, and had every right to choose — like most post-Soviet European countries — freedom and democracy, and Russia wants to punish her for it.
This is a moral choice if there ever was one. Justice demands it. Peace demands it. Defend Ukraine, and restore it to its 1991 borders, and make Russia pay reparations. That is the full extent of justice for Ukraine. The only negotiation with the barbarism unleashed by Russia can pertain to the length of its exclusion from civilized society, the amount of the reparations paid, and the severity of the punishment for its leadership.
Make no mistake — Russia, under its tyrant Putin, knows nothing else but war, deception and submission. Listen to one of Putin’s thugs, his chief propagandist Vladimir Solovyov, using Tolstoy as an excuse:
“мы вас всех убьём и эта война не 2 года и не 3 года, это многовековая война Европой с Россией — ой, вы ничего не понимаете.”
“we will kill you all, and this war is not 2 years or 3 years, it is a centuries-long war between Europe and Russia — oh, you don’t understand anything.”
Do we understand yet?
There can be no dialogue with those who want to kill you. There can be no peace with those who have broken every treaty yet with the victim. There can be no appeasement of an enemy that delights in being the enemy and does not seek peace but only domination.
This has to end. Ukraine MUST win. Russia MUST lose.
Do we understand yet?
Ceterum censeo Ucrainam esse defendam. Слава Україні!
Erratic Attempts 