Even because this war is producing economic and social effects far from the front of the war, the cost we are paying is much smaller than freedom and democracy. In this confrontation, Ukrainians have put their lives at risk, but this is not a war between Russia and Ukraine, it is a war between tyranny and democracy – and anyway, the tyrants must not be allowed to win.
Author: Sefer Selimi Jr.
February 24th of this year will forever change the security infrastructure, first of all in Europe, but also at the global level. Russian aggression on Ukraine triggered a series of domino-effect changes in all existing energy, trade, economic, cultural and humanitarian structures. The cost of this unprovoked war by Russia is having devastating effects globally, but not comparable to the over 38,000 civilian lives lost in Ukraine, over 14 million people displaced from their homes, and cost of destruction over $520 billion in these nine months of invasion.
The documented evidence of the Kremlin’s state terrorism shows a barbaric mentality that disregards no legal or human norms, no international conventions that establish the “game rules” during an armed conflict. Ukrainian and international investigative teams have documented hundreds of cases of crimes against humanity involving extreme violence, torture, mass murder and rape, indiscriminate bombing and the use of weapons prohibited by international conventions.
What was believed to be the “second most powerful army in the world”, at the front is being defiled by the will and determination of the Ukrainian people that exceeded all expectations and predictions of resistance to the formidable military machine inherited from the war cold, and that the dictator Putin proudly took out in the annual parade to show his country’s muscles and feed the tsarist dream of restoring Bolshevik dominance over the countries of Eastern Europe. The dictator of the Kremlin did not keep this dream hidden, even the attempt to realize it has its origin from the beginning of his government, in the political philosophy with which I will build the autocratic and corrupt system.
Putin, a former KGB agent who served in East Germany who rapidly climbed the ladder of power, believes that the biggest mistake and evil is the collapse of the Soviet Union after the fall of the Berlin Wall. What is considered the beginning of the realization of this dream is the intervention in Georgia in 2008 to be followed by the occupation of Crimea in 2014 and the sponsorship of separatists in the east of Ukraine. All this doctrine Putin describes in the long essay before the full invasion of Ukraine, denying the existence of a special people and language and invoking the “historical right” of Russia over the territory of Ukraine.
However, unlike in 2008 and 2014, the Russian intelligence had made a wrong calculation believing that the Ukrainian people will welcome the Russian soldiers as liberators and that Kiev will be occupied within 72 hours. Neither one nor the other happened, the Ukrainian people and army led by the “comedian” Zelensky selflessly stood in defense of their freedom and independence. Today, after nine months of daily and unequal struggle, the tsarist dream of the dictator is being violated in Ukraine by unmasking and exposing the “naked king” in front of the whole world.
In addition to the fact that the Ukrainian army and people resisted, they are returning to the counterattack by reclaiming their territory, thus giving at least three major defeats to the Russian army, the defeat of Kiev, Karkiv and most recently Kherson. Faced with global embarrassment and as any other tyrant would do, dictator Putin has deployed military potential to target critical civilian infrastructure, disrupting electricity, gas and water supply networks and thus attempting to cause as much more suffering and death among the civilian population. On November 15 alone, the Russian army launched over 100 rockets bombing civilian settlements.
Even because this war is producing economic and social effects far from the front of the war, the cost we are paying is much smaller than freedom and democracy. In this confrontation, their lives have put the Ukrainians at risk, but this is not a war between Russia and Ukraine, it is a war between tyranny and democracy – and in any case, the tyrants must not be allowed to win.