We already know the answer

 

 

Rod Stewart sang “…I wish that I knew what I know now, when I was younger…”  Don’t we all sort of wish that too?  How different would our choices…our decisions…our actions have been if we were blessed with that insight?

That line comes to mind right now as we all look on as peeping Toms at the catastrophe unfolding in Ukraine.  SPOILER ALERT.  WE KNOW F—KING WELL, RIGHT NOW, WHAT THE END WILL BE.

Russia will kill thousands of civilians, perhaps hundreds of thousands.  They will level every building in all the major cities of Ukraine.  They will impose their will on the nation.

That is not to say that it will be easy or that the Ukrainian people will not resist with every fibre of their being.  But the end is a known.

Sanctions, weapons and moral solidarity against this invasion help us to feel good.  But that won’t ever be enough.  And we know that too.

So what happens when the next step it taken?  What happens when a NATO partner is under attack? 

The west is committed to respond and defend against such an action.  Will another event actually happen?  WE KNOW IT WILL!

While we sit and break our arms patting ourselves on the back at how much we have done to support Ukraine, let’s pause to consider WHAT WE HAVE NOT DONE.

The US has delayed sanctions on the Russian oil and gas industry.  Why?  Because it might raise prices at the pumps by a dollar a gallon.  WOW, WHAT AN F—KING SACRIFICE.

Nobody in the west wants to feel the hurt personally.  It’s better that the Ukrainians do it on our behalf. 

NATO must act now in a decisive manner.  These actions will alleviate the inevitable suffering of the Ukrainians and of the Russian people as well.  It also means that our action now diminishes the inevitable consequences of our collective inaction.

Words, prayers, sanctions and diplomacy are all nice in a world in which the rule of law dictates.  That world does not exist in Putin’s mind.

Tell our leaders ‘…I wish that I knew what I know now, when I was younger…’