How to Quickly End Ukraine’s Suffering: Decisive Diplomatic and Military Measures
The democratic West has unambiguously and correctly characterized the criminal, unprovoked, shockingly cruel Putin/Russian invasion of Ukraine as an existential threat not just to Ukraine as an independent sovereign nation, but to other democracies and a rules based world, just like Hitler’s invasions of Poland, Holland, Belgium, France, and the Soviet Union, and his bombings of England. The Western democracies led by NATO have pledged to help Ukraine defend itself for as long as it takes through arms deliveries, in order to repel Russia from all its territory. But the arms deliveries have so far been grossly insufficient to prevent Russia from destroying much of Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure and maiming and killing thousands of civilians, because long range munitions, tanks and fighter jets have not been supplied, due to the highly questionable belief that counterattacking military infrastructure in Russian territory would lead to an expanded war and even to Russia launching nuclear missiles.
The Russian invasion has now lasted 12 months, with no end in sight to Ukraine’s immense suffering. That is unacceptable. If NATO’s plan is to have only Ukraine sacrifice its soldiers and civilians in a war for the benefit of Western democracies, that would be incredibly selfish and immoral. Hopefully, that is not the case. Assuming the West is moral, it must currently believe Ukraine will defeat Russia by early summer without fighter jets, bombers, and long-range land-based artillery. But that calculation is wishful thinking. Could Hitler’s Nazi Germany have been defeated without counterattacking on German soil? Allowing Russian territory to be a safe-haven is the reason the war has lasted so long. As has the refusal to accept Ukraine as a member of NATO and the European Union, suggesting only partial commitment. Ukrainians deserve much more, having shown incredible bravery and endured enormous sacrifice, demonstrating their desire to be a democratic nation associated with NATO and the EU, not with Russia. Ukraine is clearly worthy of NATO and EU membership. Those memberships should be granted now, without further delay, signifying the West’s full commitment to Ukraine’s sovereignty and democracy.
If NATO is militarily prepared to directly counter Russia, as it should be given all its military expenditures and trainings over the past decades, it should, together with Ukrainian forces, directly engage in counterattacking the Russian military within Ukraine’s borders in order to quickly end the war and Ukraine’s suffering. The Russian military, having demonstrated its conventional war incompetence, would be overwhelmed in short order.
What about the risk of Russia using nuclear weapons? That is a very unlikely development, as the Russian leadership realizes what the consequences would be for themselves and their nation if a massive NATO military strike on Russia were provoked. The very threats of nuclear war by Putin and his associates signify weakness, most likely a bluff in order to avoid direct NATO engagement. In any case, if Putin is not defeated, he will continue to use nuclear blackmail if not also actual nuclear attacks in order to achieve his criminal goals of subjugating multiple European nations, in violation of the United Nations Charter. So, there is no good alternative to directly engaging and defeating Putin now. If not now, his defeat will have to be in the future, which would be much more costly, with Russia having had the time to significantly upgrade its military.
One preliminary step should be to have Biden and Zelensky immediately demand separate televised debates with Putin, which would serve to get the truth through to the Russian people, largely brainwashed by Putin’s lies and censorship. Make him define Nazi and fascist. Ask him what was the Budapest Memorandum. His word is worthless, not to be trusted, ever.
A second preliminary step should be to demand that the United Nations immediately condemn the Russian invasion of Ukraine as such an egregious violation of the UN Charter, that Russia must be expelled not just from the Security Council but also from the United Nations. Were the UN to fail to do so, it would signify that the UN is incapable of living up to its mandate of upholding its Charter and its Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Continued UN weakness would actually be worse than disbanding it. It’s time for the UN to demonstrate its worth. If it can’t, then the United States and its NATO allies along with other democratic nations should declare they are withdrawing from the UN. The UN should then be shut down in New York, and a new UN instituted to replace it, accepting as members only nations clearly committed to democracy and human rights. Such decisive diplomatic measures are long overdue.
Once Russia is expelled from the United Nations or the UN is disbanded, NATO should publicly declare that Russia is a criminal rogue nation, similar to Nazi Germany, and encourage the Russian people to quickly overthrow the Putin regime though mass demonstrations, strikes, and refusals to join the military, or else be considered complicit with Putin, just as most of the German people were complicit with Hitler. There are good Russians, as exemplified by Navalny and his supporters, but up till now the majority of Russians have been pro-Putin and in favor of his aggressions. They share responsibility for his crimes. All pro-Putin Russians should be denied visas to Western nations. Their existing visas should be revoked. It must be understood that Russia has been a very problematic nation for over a century: 1) by imposing pauperizing communism and abusive dictatorship on many nations, apart from on its own citizens, and brainwashing them though propaganda and censorship; 2) by cooperating with Hitler in invading Poland; 3) by mass deporting Tatars from Crimea; 4) following the collapse of communism, by imposing a corrupt fascist dictatorship, led by former communists. Russia, for its own good and for the good of the world, must be turned into a peaceful democracy fully respectful of human rights and other nations’ sovereignty. That requires educating brainwashed Russian citizens and removing the Putin regime, which in turn requires the decisive defeat of Russia’s military in the Ukraine war.
Putin is an undereducated monster. He has a Napoleon/Hitler/Stalin complex. He is insecure with a severe inferiority complex, typical of individuals unloved or improperly loved by their parents. He is unempathetic, violent, cruel, dishonest, corrupt, and highly immoral. He wants to reconstitute the Russian Empire through force, as if that were reasonable, for his own vainglory. He does not value the life of his own soldiers or his own citizens. He imprisons and murders his political opponents and ordinary citizens protesting his dictatorship, his violation of human rights, his cruelty. He shamelessly changes his pretexts for invading Ukraine, a peaceful sovereign nation since 1991 and member of the United Nations. He outrageously violates the UN Charter. He perfidiously violates the 1994 Budapest Memorandum whereby Ukraine gave up all its nuclear weapons to Russia in exchange for a guarantee of non-aggression and respect for its territorial sovereignty. By the way, the United States co-signed the Budapest Memorandum, and is therefore obligated to defend Ukraine from Russian aggression, even while Ukraine is not a NATO member.
If the United States and NATO are militarily prepared, they should immediately engage in the war directly, and stop being supporters of Ukraine only from a safe distance. Time is of the essence. (Especially before China starts giving Russia military assistance.) It’s time for the U.S. to live up to its past honor and sacrifice in defeating Hitler’s Nazi Germany. Defeating Putin is just as important as defeating Hitler. The decisive defeat of the Putin regime should be followed by sustained NATO upgrading and ultra-preparedness to prevent any remaining dictatorships from attacking or intimidating other nations. The goal must be a world free of dictatorships. That requires having all citizens in democracies truly well educated, fully committed to defending democracy and human rights, as opposed to currently when all too many people, including in the USA, are undereducated, easily manipulated by corrupt nefarious demagogues and propaganda, and dismissive of the importance of democracy and human rights.
© Edward Sonnino 2023
February 18, 2023
