Originally Posted by
NutLoose
That neither justifies it nor makes it right though.
It certainly does not, but we are left with the problem of how to deal with a neighbouring people who are so willing to abandon civilised behaviour and descend into barbarism. The last time it had to be done cost millions of lives and could easily do so again. Ukraine must undoubtedly be given every assistance to eject Russian forces from their country, at a cost of great suffering, but then what? It seems to me that sanctions would have to stay in place until there was some confidence that Russia could be trusted again. We can hope for a coup or revolution that replaces Putin’s regime with something better, but governments born in such circumstances are rarely an improvement on what went before. We can ponder the possible breakup of the RF into a group of independent and less belligerent countries, but there is no evidence that this is likely. Perhaps the best we can hope for is a new Cold War, with a militarily emasculated (but still nuclear armed) Russia left feeling isolated, resentful, cheated and thirsting for revenge. Not a happy thought on this New Year.