Small Man, Big Ambitions, Bigger Table...


 

We do seem to be in the midst of a cloud of unknowing with regard to the war in Ukraine - and war it is: unprovoked, unbidden and unfathomable - I follow a large number of newsfeeds and channels, and don't rely on just the righteous or the right on, but the picture emerging from it all is nebulous at best.

We have incursions on various fronts: Belarus, Russia itself, and from the annexed territory of Crimea, a pincer movement which aims, one would imagine, to surround the major cities of the country. The view though, from the informed commentariat is that we have a situation where the larger, better equipped aggressor is being held back by the target of their aggression: a result it would seem of a mismatch in morale between the sides and poor logistics on behalf of the Russian forces.

One thing stands out loud and clear, though. Ukraine has a leader who is standing front and centre with his people and his troops, united in resistance. Putin, as ever, is operating remote from his military and has apparently all along misled them as to their ultimate purpose in their sister state of Ukraine. He operates as all autocrats do: protected and distant from the centre of action: the thirty-foot table talk with Macron, anyone?

What the West can do about this situation is moot, and sanctions are too long-term to help the people of Ukraine now. The fear we have is obviously that of escalating this into a third world war, with the unthinkable prospect of nuclear conflict; but there surely has to be an alternative way to stop this: collectively we need leadership. And we need to win over the people of Russia, who surely don't want to follow the deranged Vladimir Putin over the cliff from which he seems set to jump.

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