Tuesday March 1, 2022
Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday March 1, 2022
Putin’s blind ambition has backfired
February 23, 2022
We’re seeing history written before our eyes in Ukraine and Russia. No one knows how it will turn out in the end, but at this point, five days into the unprovoked invasion of a sovereign state, one thing stands out:
It looks very much as though Vladimir Putin has scored what in the soccer world they call an own goal. He took aim at his supposed enemies, and smacked himself in the face.
Consider:
•Instead of crushing Ukraine with overwhelming might, his forces are bogged down as Ukrainian soldiers and civilians alike put up a heroic resistance.
•Instead of dividing the West, he has given it common purpose in opposing his naked aggression. Ukraine’s example has stiffened the spines of western nations that were dithering about how far they were prepared to go in standing up to Putin.
•Instead of rolling back NATO, he’s now seeing more countries rushing to join it, for fear they might be next on Putin’s hit list.
•Instead of flexing his economic and energy leverage over Europe, he’s seeing the ruble collapse and sanctions beginning to bite. Russia is now an international pariah.
•And instead of unifying his own people, he’s seeing demonstrations against the Ukraine war breaking out in Moscow, St. Petersburg and dozens of other cities. Decent Russians are appalled by their government’s actions.
Even as talks between the two sides were underway on Monday, for example, Russian forces struck at the city of Kharkiv, hitting civilian targets and killing many people. There could, unfortunately, be much more such bloodshed to come.
