DR ERROL N BENJAMIN

IN A PREVIOUS article on the Russia/Ukraine situation I tried to show the equivalence between Russia and the West in their common hegemonic intent and their indifference to human suffering as part of that process. Today I extend that theme somewhat, pointing to how the politics of such hegemonic intent is only about power and self-interest and never about any human, ethical or moral consideration.

In this regard the parallel between Vladimir Putin and Adolf Hitler is apt and instructive, but the contrast of the reaction of the West to both these tyrants in their quest for conquest and domination is equally so.

Hitler would stretch his long conquering arm across Europe even unto Italy with Benito Mussolini as his ally, and later to Russia itself, but Winston Churchill in Britain, D-Day and Normandy, the Belgian resistance symbolised in Anne Frank, the French Resistance, and last, the telling Russian victory at Stalingrad, cumulatively leading to Germany’s surrender and Hitler’s subsequent suicide, are all reminders of the strong and successful military response to Hitler and his marauding German army. Of this, the movies The Longest Day and To Hell and Back are ample illustration.

Putin is also stretching his long conquering arm across Ukraine into Europe, having invaded the former Czech Republic, now on the verge of incorporating Belarus in the North, Crimea in the South and Luhansk and Donetsk in the East into the Russian republic, his final immediate prize being Ukraine as a way to Poland, Lithuania et al, in his expected march across Europe.

But what is the military reaction of the West to this all-conquering dictator? Joe Biden is big on his threat to “punish Putin,” whatever that means, thinking perhaps about the economic sanctions but not about anything military. Boris Johnson is sending military aid but remains distant. Emmanuel Macron is all talk and diplomacy, even meeting personally with Putin, but probably worrying about his re-election and not appearing to be an advocate of war to the French people. Recep Tayyip Erdogan has closed the Bosphorus but probably too late. NATO and the European Union are more about the rhetoric about Putin’s violation of international standards than any military response, and the rest of Europe seems to be following suit.

[caption id="attachment_943995" align="alignnone" width="300"] Dr Errol Benjamin -[/caption]

There is no better illustration of the non-interventionist approach of the West, militarily, in Ukraine than the absolute “No, No” to Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky’s plea for a “no fly” zone over his country under siege by the Russians, implementable according to one former UN diplomat, with western and Ukrainian planes patrolling Ukraine’s airspace and escorting Russian intruders without engaging in actual war.

But the question to ask is why the western military inaction against the marauding Russian army which is burning cities and villages and killing hundreds of innocent civilians especially when their pre-invasion r