I'm so horrified about what Putin is doing to Ukraine. He has a history and present of committing war crimes. He is a war criminal. I know the man has nukes and that does give us all profound pause regarding applying the lessons of World War II here. Otherwise, I would have written weeks ago that the man should be taken down by any means necessary. However, in the last few weeks, it has become clear that, nukes or no nukes, the lessons of World War II apply: fascist war criminals, who commit crimes against humanity, need to be stopped by the rest of the world BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY.
Yes he has nukes, but it appears he has either gone crazy, or is a horrifying combination of sane, ruthless and limit-free: either way, we--the rest of the world--have to go in there and stop him, now. He may well use chemical weapons. He may well use nukes. He may well do all of that ANYWAY, which is one of the reasons he must be stopped now.
If a head of state is a war criminal, the world has a right to stop him from committing any further war crimes, either by capturing him and removing him from power, or stopping him by any other means necessary.
I believe in non-violence. Whenever possible. But when dealing with someone committing violence, on a huge scale, crimes against humanity, do we stage a non-violent sit-in, in which we all pray for peace and sing kumbaya, or do we TAKE HIM OUT? The former has power, I passionately believe. But the latter is, rarely, necessary in this world. If you came home from work one day and someone was inside your house, killing your child, would you try to reason with the perpetrator? Would you make a sign and protest? While you might do the former for a moment or two, if it didn't work, you would STOP THE PERSON FROM KILLING YOUR CHILD.
Putin is killing many children. He cannot be reasoned with. He did this in Syria. He has poisoned people who spoke out against him and were not even inside Russia (he poisoned a journalist with polonium in Britain). He is a war criminal. And right now, he has started World War III. It's not if, it's here. It's now. It's happening. All those air raid sirens that made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up when I was a very small child were about THIS. This is not a drill. This is precisely what the Cold War sirens warned about, only minus a possibly violently insane person at the helm of the nukes on the other side.
PUTIN HAS TO BE STOPPED RIGHT NOW, BY THE REST OF THE WORLD, INCLUDING US HERE IN THE UNITED STATES.
He's not going to stop on his own. It's not going to happen. He won't stop until he has Ukraine, and then what? Will he keep going? Or even if not, will we allow him to set this precedent, that it is okay to take over another country by obliterating innocent, civilian targets in the most brutal, war crime-intensive way imaginable?
It's time for the whole world--yes, including us--to get involved. Yes, Putin could literally go nuclear but the US should have thought of that during all the DECADES that some of us were passionately and loudly protesting nuclear weapons. NUCLEAR WEAPONS DO NOT MAKE THE WORLD A SAFER PLACE. They just give cover to mad men who have a stash of them. Maybe now those in power here are starting to understand that. Maybe not. Maybe the world someday will get that nuclear weapons do the opposite of making the world a safer place, just as nuclear power is the exact opposite of safe, clean and affordable. Maybe, maybe not, but right now? PUTIN NEEDS TO BE STOPPED, even though he has nukes, and especially because he has nukes.
The world--including us--needs to go in there and remove the man from power. By any means necessary. The fact that he is a war criminal gives the world license to do this. Get him out of power, NOW.
(And, P.S., as I said shouted many times over when Putin did what he did in Syria a few years back, we--the United States--need to welcome as many of his victims/refugees as we possibly can. THAT is what makes us great, not walls or bans.)
