Now Wait A Goddamned Minute: April 2022

 

I think it’s long past time that we talk about this. .

Putin invaded a neighbouring country that was mostly just sitting there, feeding the world and having some really hot government women.  (Who knew?)  Almost immediately, Russia started destroying schools, medical clinics, churches – and the homes and lives of regular people who had nothing to do with the Ukraine military.  Now we see them wiping out entire villages and medium-sized cities and suburbs – and torturing, raping, murdering human beings by the thousands.

This morning, I once again saw them targeting civilians with cluster bombs, which the rest of the world (mostly) recognizes as a war crime. 

How long does the world wait?  How many Ukrainians do we allow Russian troops to torture, kidnap, rape, murder before we really say, “Now wait just a goddamned minute.”

I think it’s time to say, “Now wait just a goddamned minute.”

Putin needs a win.  He’s been running things for 20-odd years and this is his big moment.  He’s long in the tooth for a dictator and is probably thinking how the rule of other dictators has ended.  Think Romania.  Best thing for him is to declare a war – whatever he wants to call it – and demonize the “others” and bring to bear one of the biggest military machines on earth. 

He wanted a quick win but Ukraine said, “Now wait just a goddamned minute.” 

Oh, we’ll bring suffering down upon the Russian people.  These sanctions are not a joke.  But you know what I think?  I think Putin doesn’t give a flying fuck at a rolling donut.  He’s riled up the populace, telling them that Ukraine is chock full o’ Nazis and he’s spouting that populist bullshit that Trump so adores.  Let’s get angry at someone and ignore our own troubles by pummeling their country back to the Paleozoic.  “I know the price of borscht has doubled, but we have to kill Nazis, don’t we?” 

 

And those sanctions are not going to really touch Putin.  And he is what matters here.  Putin is insulated and has plenty of reserves.  And he listens to nobody’s counsel.  He is an autocrat, a dictator, doing what dictators do.  Everyone says he respects only strength.  Sanctions?  What does he care?

 

What can we do?  Fuck if I know, but I have some ideas.  We go to the UN and tell them the train is leaving the station.  We’re using existing coalitions (NATO) and gathering non-NATO countries to commit to being with us or against us.  We use NATO forces, not just ours, and we move offensive weapons, big ones, into eastern Ukraine.  We declare a no-fly zone over all of Ukraine.  Yes, yes, we do.  And NATO fighters patrol and blow Russian jets out of the fucking sky if they violate the airspace.  We send trainers (this is what Special Forces do on a daily basis, trust me) to make sure the Ukrainians can efficiently operate the weapons.  We say, collectively, to Putin: “Now wait just a goddamned minute.”

The turd in the punchbowl is nuclear, of course.  I know that.  I also know it always has been and Putin isn’t insane by any measure.  He isn’t interested in blowing up the planet; he just wants to return to those thrilling days of yesteryear, when the Soviet Union held sway over much of eastern Europe.

 

A few people have asked me, “Why can’t we just take him out?”  I get the sentiment.  It would be party time in the West, but there are some things we need to consider.  In spite of our not-to-distant past, it is illegal to assassinate foreign leaders.  No one can issue that order and no one should attempt to follow that order.  You can bitch if you want to and I’ll have some level of agreement here, but this is a fact: we cannot and should not do it.  If such a fate befalls Putin, and we can all hope for it but not facilitate it, it will have to be from within.  And he is a ruthless bastard and that inner circle all want to avoid being poisoned – or summarily shot.  And this is what dictators do.

Remember a few years ago?  We had our own populist bastard to deal with.  Nowhere near as cunning as Putin and with fewer powers to make trouble, we still see a groundswell of support for him.   We hate to admit it, but it’s obvious that Trump still wields considerable sway among Republicans and the unwashed cousin-fuckers.  Putin has far more control over what his population understands and has used it smartly.  Putin’s popularity ratings are dazzling!  And those numbers are most likely accurate. No matter how we feel about it, he’s good at convincing his population that he is only doing it for them and, more importantly, he’s the only one that can do it. 

Remember this?  “I alone can fix it.” 

We should shun anyone narcissistic enough to make such a statement. 

But we need to do what we’re supposed to do.  When we confront a terrorist regime, the game changes.  This is not some pompous Latin American hothead, killing mostly his own people or invading some other banana republic.  This is a monster, invested in destroying a west-leaning democracy and rebuilding an empire in Europe.  We’re supposed to be the guys that stop the terror. 

Where’s our white horse?