Mentally deranged fanatic must be stopped for the sake of world security.
Marco Levytsky, Editorial Writer.
Up until February 24 Russian dictator Vladimir Putin was generally viewed as ruthless and evil, but also cold, calculating and pragmatic. His aggression to that point was limited to grabbing pieces of neighboring countries and destabilizing them. But his all-out invasion of Ukraine and the incoherent ranting that preceded it exposed him for what he truly is — a mentally deranged fanatic. Reports have surfaced about his paranoia and how he has totally isolated himself from the outside world relying only on his band of sycophants whom he keeps at 10-metre distances. There is also speculation that he is seriously ill and being treated with steroids.
All this draws comparisons with an earlier mentally deranged fanatic – Adolf Hitler. Yes, Putin is a 21st century reincarnation of Adolf Hitler and it’s time the world realised this. Should Ukraine fall will he stop there? Right now, most people don’t think so. But then, until February 24 most people, including Ukrainians, did not believe he would launch a full-scale attack. But he did. So, is he deranged enough to launch a nuclear holocaust? At this point anything is possible. That is why he must be recognized as a reincarnation of Adolf Hitler and treated as such.
As Alexandra Chyczij, National President of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress has stated: “The unprovoked and ferocious war that Russia has unleashed upon Ukraine is an evil unseen in Europe since World War II. The resources of the Free World must be marshalled in the defence of Ukraine’s liberty. If Putin succeeds with his assault on Ukraine, the light of freedom in Europe may be extinguished for a generation.”
Right now, Ukraine stands alone against this maniac. He has totally miscalculated the resolve of the Ukrainian people. We have become united as we have never been before in our history. And, despite being vastly outnumbered in terms of soldiers and weapons, our armed forces have been putting up unexpectedly strong resistance and inflicting many casualties upon the invading hordes. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is proving himself to be a wartime leader of Churchillean stature. Offered evacuation from his embattled capital by the United States, Zelenskyy opted to stay. “I don’t need a ride. I need more ammunition,” he boldly declared.
But Ukraine cannot manage this on its own. It needs support from Western democracies. While only a trickle of lethal defensive weapons was sent to Ukraine prior to the invasion, the determined resistance that Ukrainians have mounted along with the indiscriminate bombing by the Russian Federation have prompted many EU countries to change their course and provide these arms. The problem now will be logistics. Cargo planes can no longer land in Ukraine. Other means will have to be employed.
At first several EU countries were reluctant to use the “nuclear” economic option namely removing Russia from the SWIFT International Payments System. But on February 26 this action was taken.
SWIFT, the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication is a messaging network that connects banks around the world and is considered the backbone of international finance. The Belgian-based consortium links more than 11,000 financial institutions operating in more than 200 countries and territories, acting as a critical hub to enable international payments. Removal from SWIFT will make it more difficult for Russian entities to process transactions and could hobble the Russian economy’s ability to do business beyond its borders. It is also expected to plunge the ruble into a free fall creating huge economic pain for Russians.
But more needs to be done.
Ukraine has asked the West to immediately declare and enforce a no-fly zone over Ukrainian territory to protect civilians from Russian air strikes and bombardment; The West is reluctant to do so as it might put Western pilots in direct conflict with Russian ones. But can the West continue to do so? What if civilian casualties start mounting into the thousands, even hundreds of thousands? What if Russia starts using thermobaric weapons which suck oxygen from the surrounding air to generate a high-temperature explosion, making them far deadlier than a conventional weapon. The so-called ‘vacuum bombs’ are capable of vaporising human bodies, crushing internal organs and reducing cities to rubble causing huge loss of life. CNN has already spotted them in Belgorod at the Ukrainian border.
The West should also Implement a full trade embargo on Russia, and this means oil and gas. We welcome Canada’s February 28 decision to ban imports of crude oil from Russia. This should have been done long ago and we wouldn’t have to buy any foreign oil whatsoever if we had a pipeline extending to the Atlantic Coast. A total oil and gas embargo is something the Europeans may balk at but it is absolutely necessary if we want to prevent Putin from funding his war machine.
Another action is to not only seize all assets held in the west by Russian oligarchs and government officials, but having confiscated them, sell them and use the money to help Ukraine.
The way to stop this indiscriminate murder and bloodshed is to make it so economically painful for Russia that the people themselves will rise up and remove Putin from office. Already protests against this war are rising in Russia despite the arrests and violence that is being perpetrated by authorities against conscientious individuals. But unpopular wars have led to Russian revolutions in the past. It happened in 1905. It happened again in 1917. And the Afghanistan debacle ultimately led to the fall of the Soviet Union. And the Ukrainian invasion, should it continue for long will make Afghanistan look like a cakewalk.
While Ukrainians valiantly defend their land the rest of the free world must give much more support than it is giving now and concentrate on actions that will lead to the removal of Putin. This madman has already put Russia’s nuclear deterrent force on alert. This very clearly shows that Putin does not only threaten the freedom and independence of Ukraine. He threatens the fundamental security of the entire world.
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