It’s been a week of disbelief watching in horror as Russian troops descend on Ukraine.
The dead lying in the streets. People sheltering in subway tunnels to escape the blanket bombings. Schools, hospitals, apartment buildings blown to pieces. In some cities, people lack water and electricity.
More than 1 million women and children and the elderly have fled to welcoming countries as their men stay behind to defend their country.
Up until now, Western nations had been hedging their bets they could negotiate with Russian President Vladimir Putin; that conventional war between industrialized countries was behind us. And as such, mutually beneficial business deals would draw us closer together as a global community.
Certainly, that was one anticipated benefit of globalization. As they negotiated deals for goods, countries would be more likely to see what they have in common.
Because Russia is so resource-rich in natural gas, coal and oil as well as wheat, it stood to gain much from globalization. And indeed, lucrative agreements over the past 25 years with Europe and beyond seemed to have steered Russia in a promising direction. Today, one-quarter of Russia’s economy comes from energy exports.
In the scope of one week, all that is for naught. Putin’s unwarranted war on Ukraine has blown any illusion of trust.
Now, anyone who has negotiated for Russian goods feels dirty and shamed.
According to reports, Russian soldiers were told they were on a “peacekeeping mission,” and would face little opposition. They would be welcomed, in fact.
Such a misrepresentation of facts erodes the critical trust needed between troops and their commanding officers. If they are to face combat, tell them. Anything less is negligence.
In justifying his “special operation” to citizens, which, he said, Thursday night “is going according to plan,” Putin alleges Ukraine is a hotbed of drug addicts and neo-Nazis that have waged genocide against their citizens. Putin maintains he needs to “demilitarize and denazify” Ukraine.
Not a shred of proof backs up these accusations, made all the more incredible because Ukraine’s president, Alexander Zelenskyy, is Jewish and lost relatives in the Holocaust.
That the Ukraine people have put up such a stiff resistance against the second most powerful military in the world is a testament to their loyalty to their country and its fledgling democracy.
On Thursday night, the embattled Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, “We do not fill the world with oil and gas, but we have our people and our land. And, for us, that is gold.”
I’d like to think that if tested, we Americans would respond in a similar manner. In truth, that day is now.
