The ongoing bludgeoning of the people of Ukraine on the orders of Russia’s president Vladimir Putin, is the world’s starkest example of why we should not coddle dictators.
Yes. We have described Mr Putin as a dictator, for the sham of elections staged by the communist superpower in which opposition forces are killed or imprisoned, is a mockery of an election.
As we speak, Russia’s leading opposition politician is withering away in a cold prison, after repeated attempts to poison him. His crime – being a popular figure and opposed to Putin.
Today, our hearts break for the millions of Ukrainians who have fought and enjoyed the freedom of democracy, shaky though it was, but it was their desire to be aligned with the West, forsaking the cruel and sometimes dangerous existence of communism as practised by the Russian Federation.
They are now forced to endure the horrors of a conflict they neither provoked, nor desired.
Putin’s attack and invasion of a sovereign state, under the pretext that he was leading a “peace keeping force” or that it was Ukraine, by virtue of seeking to join the NATO alliance, presented a nuclear threat to Russia, is as laughable as those who parrot Putin’s talking points.
Unfortunately, we have a small group here at home, who in their condemnation of past United States aggressions in places like Panama, Iraq and Muammar Gaddafi’s Libya, have sought to create an equivalency where one does not exist.
Putin has been and should be condemned for what he is doing in Ukraine and the ripple effect such action is likely to have on the rest of the world and economies like ours that are barely recovering from the shock of two years of the COVID-19 pandemic.
While Prime Minister Mia Mottley has faced some ridicule on social media from commentators who believe we should “drink water and mind our business” and that “this fight is not for us”, it would be impossible and immoral to remain silent in the face of such atrocities.
The world simply does not need this chaos because a single leader may be going through a mid-life crisis and wants to show the world that he can take over another country because he has the army to do so.
“The actions of the Russian Federation are a violation of the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine and of the rule of non-interference in the internal affairs of another state. They are a violation of the prohibition on the threat or use of force, and of the rule that disputes between states should be resolved peacefully,” Mottley said in a statement this week.
She added: “The Government of Barbados, therefore, calls on the Russian Federation immediately to cease its hostilities and respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine. The Government of Barbados reaffirms the essential role of diplomacy and multilateralism in de-escalating this spiralling crisis and calls on all member states of the United Nations to support the United Nations Secretary-General and other legitimate mediators.”
In a conflict like this, there is no rightful neutral ground. What Russia is doing in Ukraine is wrong. Simple and without ambiguity.
At the same time, we must keep a close eye on those in the United States of America, of all places, including a former President and Secretary of State, who are publicly praising and hero worshiping Putin.
It is a most odd and vulgar thing for two people who held the highest offices in the government of this superpower, to praise a man who invades another country that has not attacked his country or posed a threat to Russia.
These are the same two men who reinstated harsh isolationist measures against our neighbour Cuba, after many of the restrictions were removed by former President Barack Obama in an effort to entice the Caribbean neighbour to embrace democracy and adopt a Western economic model.
Donald Trump and his sidekick Mike Pompeo were prepared to choke Cuba, which is no threat to the United States, but are prepared to give a warm embrace to Putin.
We must monitor the actions of Trump who stands a good chance of being the Republican party’s presidential nominee again and possibly running for president of the US in 2024.
There are many tinpot gods around the world leading fragile democracies, who would welcome another Trump presidency because it would give them legitimacy in a world that seems to be on its head and where the lines between right and wrong are increasingly blurred.
