Action This [Some?] Day...

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There are many distressing, depressing and frankly frightening aspects of the war in Ukraine. Leaving aside the illegal invasion by a foreign power of an independent, sovereign country - itself the very definition of an act of war - the response of the West has simply been reticent, timid and over diplomatic in the face of this aggression, fearful that intervention by NATO troops in a situation involving a non-NATO member country will result in the deployment of nuclear weapons.

Worse has been our Home Office's pathetically bureaucratic approach toward those seeking sanctuary in the UK, either to join family living here or simply to take shelter as lone refugees. If the boot was on the other foot, there would be howls of protest at the conduct of 'Johnny Foreigner' in dealing with Brits similarly afflicted. This war and its increasing humanitarian fallout needs to be addressed immediately.

An illegal military act of aggression against a sovereign power is an illegal act, period. Humanitarian needs are humanitarian needs, period. There are no grey areas here: normal rules do not apply, and decisive action needs to be collectively taken by the West, NATO alliance members or no. Putin has torn up the rulebook: we no longer need to fret about the niceties, and long-term solutions amount to mere lip-service in the heat of Ukraine's battle. As Churchill would have said: "Action this day".

Whatever transpires from this action will transpire, but we can't simply sit back passively and wait for Russia to cross the Rubicon and invade Moldova or Poland, when Nato will be forced to follow the rulebook and finally answer a threat which is already a clear and present danger to European stability and which, if allowed to continue, will inevitably escalate globally into a Third World War, something only Vladimir Putin would contemplate or want, in his deluded and paranoiac expansionism, thinly disguised by his use of the rhetoric of 'national defence'.

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