It was barely a decade ago when then U.S. president Barack Obama made light of a potential Russian threat in a debate with Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, who had declared Russia as America’s top geopolitical adversary.
Obama openly mocked Romney, chiding, “… the 1980s are now calling to ask for their foreign policy back because, you know, the Cold War has been over for 20 years.”
Two years after the infamous zinger, in 2014, Russia invaded and annexed the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine. Despite international outcry, Russia formally incorporated Crimea.
The world has learned little and done little in the last decade to quell Russian aggression. Now, the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, launched on Feb. 24, has left the people of our planet helplessly, breathlessly pinned to our phones, televisions, and social media, mostly in awe of an attack unprovoked, and shock such a thing could happen in 2022.
Not only has the Cold-War-era feel returned to the global community, there is genuine fear this could escalate into a full-scale conflict involving planetary superpowers and nuclear weaponry.
Nicholas Sarabin, who has sought refuge from the attacks at his sister's home in St. Albert, said in reporter Jessica Nelson's front-page Gazette story that Ukrainians don't want to be Russian. They hate Russian President Vladimir Putin and love their country.
“Ukrainians will fight. They will die. I don't understand what Putin wants out of this. He's got this dream of rebuilding the Soviet Union. But there is no reality where Ukrainians will accept that,” he said.
Ukraine gained its independence in 1991 with the Soviet Union's collapse. Since then, Ukraine has had a right to its sovereignty, no matter how much discomfort this causes Putin. If Ukraine wants to be part of NATO, Ukraine has every right to democratically act as it chooses.
Putin's concerns about protecting Russia clearly show how much its border countries must guarantee their safety from the big bully next door.
Countries have begun to slap back at Russia with economic sanctions, while the world rushes in with support. Neighbouring nations have opened their borders to citizens fleeing Ukraine, while the global community commits millions of dollars in humanitarian and military aid.
As it should be.
No single nation on this Earth has the right to unleash lethal weapons on civilians looking to live peaceful, independent lives so as to take those freedoms away. For any reason.
And we must be the helpers, who will show each ambitious dictator choices like these have consequences — not in the form of further bombs or gunfire trained at more innocent civilians.
The most effective way to send a strong message to a global bully, it seems, is to take away his power by hitting him in the purse strings.
We hope.
Yes, rush in, send love, funds, and support to all of those personally affected by the Ukraine attacks.
Shine a light on each injustice.
But also remember to hold Russia accountable, by refusing to financially support it and its supporters.
It is our duty to make sure Putin — and all leaders like him — understand the world's citizens, not just those in Ukraine, won't stand idly by as gunfire and bombs rain down on the front line of democracy. Ever again.
Editorials are the consensus view of the St. Albert Gazette’s editorial board.
