When we were children, we were traumatized by the bullying of a neighbourhood thug, who was 4-5 years older than the rest and had the physique to show for that. That he was bigger and beefier than the rest of the boys had, in his mind, bestowed on him the unequivocal right to lord over the group. Being a dimwit, he knew the only way he could command a vague sense of respect from us was to literally beat the hell out of all opposition within the group by pouncing on some unfortunate, puny victim! He was never okay with any of us being on good terms with his enemies -- and he had many -- and he was mortally afraid of directly taking on his enemies, who were his own age and equally well built. He was mortally afraid that he might be beaten black and blue and his face could be scrubbed shapeless in the mud, which would make him lose all the dread and grudging respect he had carefully built within the group for so many years. So it was always the smaller kids who were the victims of his wrath because they deliberately or unwittingly chose to ignore his repeated warnings that they should not hobnob with any other senior, at any cost. Period. Frequently problems arose when some cheeky bigger boys came around to chat or play or whatever, with the intention of making the bully wring his hands in anger. After their departure, expectedly, some small kid got the rap badly from the bully. The funny thing was the bully did not have any great friend his own vintage; probably he did not want that and never made any effort in that direction, because he knew he could not sustain any meaningful relationship with an equal and wanted only trembling subservients around him. Made him feel like a potent force obviously.
Sounds familiar?? I reckoned so. Might have happened in your life too at some stage. When Russia decided to pommel Ukraine into submission with its military might in a patently unequal battle, some of our friends exchanged notes and reminisced about that neighbourhood thug of those days. We concluded that there is no difference, except that the setting was global geopolitics. Ukraine dared to have some aspirations of its own - like joining EU, Nato and generally cosying up to the West. As an indepndent nation, it mistakenly assumed that it had the right to align itself with whoever it liked. Like that young boy in our childhood group, who saw no harm in buying a colourful top from another neighbourhood boy, without realising that this action was posing a direct provocation to our own bully, who reacted violently. Having cocked a snook at Putin thus and almost daring him into thuggish behaviour, Ukraine did not exactly prepare itself for a full scale assault by Russia. It probably never occurred to Ukraine that in this 21st century, geopolitical fairness and international norms would allow a street-bully like Putin to trample a smaller country at will and that there will be no direct protection available to it from the so-called friends and also that retrograde organization called United Nations.
The specious argument used by Putin (not that it mattered) was `democracy and rights of a sovereign nation be damned, Ukraine cannot be friendly with those who are my enemies because that would endanger Russia. If it attempts to, Russia can view such a move as inimical to its security interests and act'. So, Russia's position is that if Ukraine has to improve its own security and trade interests and wants to be in pacts with USA and EU countries, it has to first get Russia's nod for that, which will never be forthcoming. It is almost like the repugnant veto some countries wield in the UN. One, why would an independent, sovereign country Ukraine, have to seek permission from anyone to do what it likes to do, so long as it does not involve violation of the rights of another sovereign country? Two, and why does Russia, which has this pathetic track record of aggression against smaller countries after the Soviet Union's break-up, get to dictate terms on this? Well, we may have those and thousand other legitimate questions, but Russia and Putin are not looking to satisfy our doubts in this regard. That is the way it is and a belligerent Russia invaded Ukraine with impunity, when the latter continued to make noises about joining Nato and EU. This is no different from our neighbourhood bully sternly warning all the smaller kids that we should not move out of the circle he has drawn for us and if we choose to, we would face the consequences.
Ukraine's friends did not jump into the already muddied waters, to help the country for the touted reason that they did not want this confrontation to flame out into a `world war'. Did USA and EU countries tell Ukraine beforehand that they would not `fight' with Ukraine against Russia for this and other reasons? Did Zelensky go ahead on his own and still send some toxic vapour up the nostril of Putin, as seen in Tom and Jerry cartoons?? Why would he risk the loss of lives and territory, if he was clear that meaty military support would not be forthcoming from the allies? If that was a dare he posed to Putin, without covering his flanks, is he irresponsible as a leader? Or did his so-called allies promise one thing and chicken out to do something less when push came to shove? In which case, the allies would not only be guilty of reneging on promises of support made, but also of directly causing immense losses to Ukraine. One thing is certain, manipulative Putin read the softness of the position of the allies better than Zelensky and walked into Ukraine. Reminds me of those couple of times when two-three more daring of the smaller kids in our group, on the provocation of a mischievously exploitative boy, started a small fire of rebellion and got thrashed by the bully.
It looks like what Putin imagined was easy fodder has turned out to be something more serious, he has not been able to ride roughshod over Ukraine and has been bitten on the backside quite a bit. The latter is resisting strongly and Russia is losing men, military assets and lots of face in the bargain. Probably because Ukraine's allies, feeling guilty that they are not actually entring the combat, are attempting to make up by supplying powerful arms and ammunitions, which are put to good use by Ukraine to dent the fortunes and confidence of Russia. Putin is retreating from some fronts, looking to make out to the weaker fringes bordering Russian territory (natural or acquired through illegitimate means and aggression earlier, like Crimea). There he can rely on pro-Russian rebel elements within Ukraine to bolster him up through uprising against the regime in Ukraine. Another tactic he has perfected over the decades as in Georgia and Crimea earlier. Now it is pretty clear that the Russia's whole game is to gobble up as much territory as possible all around Ukraine, even as the rest of the world and UN bleat out their well practised chorus - `Differences should be resolved through talks, not war'. We have all done that very expertly for decades in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and Yemen -- of course, without anyone bothering to even listen.
Now that Purin has realised this is going to be a tougher war than he had imagined and Ukraine is not going to curl up and roll over, he is imitating our bully and saying things like `no country should provide arms and ammunitions to Ukraine. That would amount to intervention in the war'. Russia also uttered the N word a few times in an attempt to put the lid on the help Ukraine is getting by warning that the whole war could spiral out into a nuclear war. Now hollering from top of the fort that it will be going nuclear, doesn't it realise that nothing will remain of Russia or all those deceitful acquisitions it has made over the years, if indeed nuclear arms are involved. How does that help Putin or Russia? They will unilaterally declare war, ride roughshod over innocent civilians in a less powerful, smaller country and the world should just watch without providing any help. How unfair can Russia be?
But as long as there is no strong global platform (UN cannot be that, by any stretch of imagination, unless completely revamped), which can rustle up robust persuasive or military support to oppose all transgressors meaningfully, this scene will repeat itself in some corner of the world. And most of us will be saying `tch, tch, what did the Ukrainians do wrong?? Russia cannot do this'. What Ukraine was trying to do, some other countries might go on the same road soon. Russia is trying to set up a precedent. Hope all angles will be covered by those daring to break a new path.
