Originally Posted by
MJ89
The only thing necessary for evil to triumph in the world is that good men do nothing -
Germany should know it best to stand up to bullies...and if not where it can lead. Poland, Estonia,Latvia, Lithuania have stood up against putins nuclear blackmail and escalation threats, and they have land borders.
"Bad men need nothing more to compass their ends, than that good men should look on and do nothing". John Stuart Mills (1867) [1]
"When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall, one by one, an unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle" Thoughts on the Cause of the Present Discontents (1770) E. Blackadder Burke [2]
"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing". JFK (1961) JFK attributed it to Burke.
2023... "ve haf tanks, but you cannot use them. Ve don't want to upset our bilateral relations with the wonderful Mr Putin to which so many western politicians and oil companies have had their noses in the slops trough of".
There is only one response to a bully, and that is to stand firm and give them defined boundaries of acceptable behaviour. Our glorious leaders failed to do that in Crimea, 2014, and 24 Feb 22 was the foreseeable outcome. Whether Leopards, Le Clercs, Challengers or Abrams are used now or not, they will be used, unless Putin gets the message clear and plainly. As the west hasn't the fortitude to place boots on the ground, then perhaps the Estonian lead should be emulated, they are providing all of their 155s to assist Ukraine who has the need, and moral fortitude to stand up.
[1] 1867 March 16, Littell’s Living Age, [Inaugural Address at University of St. Andrews: 1867 February 1], Page 664, Number 1189, Fourth Series, Littell and Gay, Boston.
[2] 1770, Thoughts on the Cause of the Present Discontents by Edmund Burke, [Third edition], Page 106, Printed for J. Dodsley in Pall-Mall, London