In the past 72 hours, the world has witnessed a breach of international norms and law that was hitherto unimaginable since the establishment of the United Nations after World War II.
Indeed, one of the foremost principles of the charter of the United Nations is a prohibition on the use of military force against a sovereign nation for the purposes of changing a border.
Russia, led by a man who has proven himself to be a despotic authoritarian, is waging an unprovoked and unjustified war of aggression against a sovereign nation based on nothing more than lies and deceit, rather than lawful casus belli.
Ukraine is not being led by a “junta of neo-Nazis,” a laughably absurd claim given the Jewish ancestry of the country’s sitting President. But nobody is laughing. Rather, for the second time (or even third time) in lives of many of us, Europe finds itself embroiled in a conflict caused by a madman.
Masquerading as a war to prevent a security threat, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is nothing of the sort. It is Vladimir Putin’s attempt to stage a coup because Ukraine’s leader committed the “crime” of preferring democracy to being a puppet of the Kremlin.
But today’s conflicts are very different from yesterday’s wars. This time, with our interconnected global economy, the effects of Putin’s aggression will be felt everywhere.
For nothing more than preserving his own infamy in the history books, Putin has decided to collapse his country’s economy and defy the near-universal opposition of his citizens to this unjust war.
For now, the world can only support Ukraine’s fight for survival and impose against Russia the most crippling economic sanctions ever devised. Perhaps, the embattled patriots in Ukraine will provide a sufficient resistance to cause Putin to back down.
The equally favorable, or perhaps more hopeful result, would be for domestic pressures to topple Putin’s regime and relegate him to the pages of the history books reserved for failed leaders.
the irked moderate 