Making sense of Putin’s war

What we’re witnessing unfold in Ukraine is becoming one of the most fast-moving descents into a full-on war ever in modern history.

Obviously not a lot of us were around when the Nazis first invaded Poland, though it has an eerily similar feel to what’s going on. Yes, this has been bubbling under the surface for weeks as Russia had been bolstering its forces along the Ukraine border, but the swiftness with how this has all gone down is both shocking and frightening.

It begs the question whether or not we’re all watching the start of world war three.

For starters, Putin’s motivation seems to be coming from a place of seeking global power. He doesn’t want Ukraine, a former member of the soviet union, to create ties with the western world, the United States in particular. Furthermore, he doesn’t want a former communist country right in his back yard to be joining the North American Trade Organization (NATO).

For Putin, this all seems to me as a way to keep Ukraine in his back pocket in terms of control and influence, and his timing could be due to the fact that he views the western powers to be in a vulnerable place to be retaliating on Ukraine’s behalf.

Now, to me the big question in all this is if or when Uncle Sam will get involved. President Joe Biden remains firm on his stance against sending troops, though he is sending billions of dollars in financial aid. How long he continues in that stance remains to be seen.

The other piece to all this is the belief that Putin, after completing his invasion of Ukraine, will turn his sights to other Baltic countries like Lithuania and Latvia; countries that are NATO members.

If that’s the case, all members of NATO, including America and Canada, would in theory be attacked as well, and would likely intervene. Efforts to prevent the invasion through sanctions have done little to help, and it’s starting to look like the only way this will be stopped is if other countries begin to send troops.

Though you should remember that in 2011, President Obama made a decision to send troops overseas after an uprising in Libya as part of a NATO-led intervention. A decision that was publicly criticized by then Vice-President Biden. This is all to say that even if a NATO country gets attacked it doesn’t guarantee the Americans will get involved in combat.

It’s simply a fact there isn’t a country on earth other then China that has the money, the nuclear weapons or the man power to stand up to a military force like Russia’s, so it will be very interesting to see what transpires if things keep escalating.

If one thing’s for sure, this is a horrible global catastrophe, and my thoughts are with the all the innocent people in Ukraine that have been forced out of their homes and out of their country.