The Tide of Injustice

 “One should never discount the historical importance of lunatics.” Marci Shore, Historian

Vladimir Putin is fighting the war he instigated with the sons of Russian mothers and fathers who have little say in matters of public policy. According to one report I heard, nearly 500 Russian soldiers have perished thus far. More will follow, of course, as will more casualties on the Ukrainian side. I still cannot fathom why Putin chose this course of action at this time. Did he miscalculate the response from the people of Ukraine and much of the world, the economic sanctions that threaten his vast stolen wealth and that of his oligarch cronies? I’ve read speculation that Putin has lost his mind, is suffering from an illness and might possibly be addled from steroids. Be that as it may, I wonder how long he can keep the Russian population in the dark about what he’s doing in Ukraine. Putin has many plates in the air. 

Putin is a case study of a brutal tyrant who has clung to power for too  long. It seems to happen to them all, the lure and curse of power; Putin has been Russia’s top dog longer than any man should. He’ll likely win the first significant military victories, taking more and more territory, but then what? How is Putin going to keep the Ukrainian people under control while Russia is under brutal economic sanctions? 

Putin, Trump, Orban, Xi Jinping, Erdogan, Modi, it’s the age of the tyrant and the autocrat. How many refugees will ultimately flee Ukraine, and how will the receiving nations manage the influx of so many desperate people at one time? The logistics are daunting. The suffering will be extreme. Because of one man, Vladimir Putin.  Why do we fall for these people, allow them to amass such powers to themselves, these men so deranged that they should never be within feet of power? Because they make things simple. They say, you’re the real people, the ones who deserve to be taken care of, not those free-loading immigrants; they say, you’re struggling financially because of the evil European Union or the Democrats and the snobby, woke intellectuals. These autocrats are skilled at simplifying the complex, casting the battle as good against evil, us against them. It speaks to our need for association with like-minded believers. Same as religion, and often hand in hand. Marry Grievance with the Bible and you’ve got something. 

We -- and by we I mean as many nations as possible -- should provide relief and relocation for the innocent victims of Putin’s War. Seize his financial assets and real property and that of his cronies and major enablers, and use the funds for resettlement and rebuilding. But we should also remember that the Ukrainians are not the first people to face a relentless, lethal military assault: that distinction belongs to the Afghans, Iraqis, Syrians, Yemenis, and many more who came before. People who by no fault of their own suffered for decades. Creating scores of refugees is a world problem, and we keep doing it, as if we can’t learn our lesson in the unintended consequences of war. It’s always the same with us: start a military conflict, create a humanitarian crisis, rinse and repeat. 

The tide of injustice rises ever higher.