Dear America,
The United States has declared entities all over the world to be "terrorist organizations," and we are not alone in having done so, either explicitly or by act and deed. Such a designation denotes not just a political stance or position but implicates a willingness by such organizations to kill and maim in order to accomplish their goals, be they political, moral or other. Those entities have lived up to the designation consistently, and they merit the opprobrium and exclusion from the community of nations that they have been committed to. But to the best of my knowledge, we have never designated another nation a terrorist organization, and I think that should change.
Russia has now repudiated the agreement into which it entered a year ago by virtue of which thirty two million metric tons of grain have been shipped all over the world by Ukraine, feeding millions who might well have gone hungry, even starved, had that grain been fusilladed by the Russian fleet in the Black Sea.. That surely is what would have happened without the agreement reached under the aegis of the United States and Turkey between Ukraine and Russia to forego such activity as of a year ago. I say "surely" in light of the sadistic bombardment of civilian targets in Ukraine over the past year and a half, setting aside the mindless destruction of property across the nation and innocent lives...innocent even under any definition that Russia might propose...that have also been lost. And then there are the war crimes that have been amply demonstrated on film and in pictures, for which to the best of anyone's knowledge the Russian government has taken no action against the perpetrators. In other words, Russia has sanctioned war crimes, and perhaps even ordered them. There is also the holding hostage of a nuclear power plant at Zaporizhhia in Ukraine and the bombing of a damn that created the reservoir from which water to cool the nuclear reactors was drawn, thus sabotaging the plants continued safety much less its ability to create nuclear powered electricity for millions of people, and the list goes on and on, village by village, and indirectly, country by country. Russia is a terrorist organization, and Vladimir Putin is a terrorist, and I don't care what Xi Jinping says.
Unfortunately, the world, with the possible exception of Tucker Carlson, has reached the same conclusion, though economic isolation and political ostracization have been the only consequences Russia has suffered. And those sanctions have done naught to deter Putin and his gangster army, so what more than castigation is left for the world to do to Putin and the Russians? How can we get the attention of a tin-horn megalomaniac who professes a sort of Russian "manifest destiny" justification for his arbitrary attack on a neighbor nation? My proposal is this formal designation of Russia as a terrorist organization by the United States, but accompanied by what amounts to a petition seeking the endorsements of all other world nations.
I can hear you asking what's the point, America, and here it is. If we effectively take a poll of the nations of the world and then publish the list of signatories, the virtues--the moral fiber--of every nation--will be a matter of record now, and in the foreseeable future. And what would that do, you may ask. The answer is the same as when Russia and Putin try to brand Ukraine a terrorist when it interdicts the transport of supplies from Russia to Ukraine by damaging a bridge built by Russia to reify its illegal claim to the territory of its neighbor, Crimea, or when Ukraine sends a few drones toward Moscow as opposed to the tens of missiles Putin has sent to bomb Kyiv. When Putin pules like a whining child about the retaliatory acts of his victim, which is seeking only self-preservation from a perverse predator, whether the world outwardly laughs or just grimaces in deprecation, that is evidence of the weakness that he seems intent on denying. True, he does have his base of Trumper like acolytes and supporters, and they are as culpable as Putin, but it seems that many, perhaps tens of millions of Russians have had enough. Putin represses them with the obsequious collaboration of the Russian legislature in the Kremlin, the State Duma and the Federation Council, but such pusillanimous submission simply confirms the morally bankrupt entity that Russia has become. Perhaps the Russian people will revolt...again.
I say, let the world hang a label around Russia's collective neck that warns everyone to think twice before having truck with anyone or anything Russian. Let the sneers of the world become a condemnatory glare seen from every direction. And as to the nations that will still view Russia as an ally, even if it only as an expediency, they will know that the world sees them for what they are too. Let the nations of the world declare that Russia's attempted subterfuge of calling its war of aggression and imperialism a "special military action" is a euphemism that changes nothing. Let Russia live in infamy, and let those who abet Russia share that infamy. It may not result in any form of change, but at least we will know who is who.
Your friend,
Mike
The United States has declared entities all over the world to be "terrorist organizations," and we are not alone in having done so, either explicitly or by act and deed. Such a designation denotes not just a political stance or position but implicates a willingness by such organizations to kill and maim in order to accomplish their goals, be they political, moral or other. Those entities have lived up to the designation consistently, and they merit the opprobrium and exclusion from the community of nations that they have been committed to. But to the best of my knowledge, we have never designated another nation a terrorist organization, and I think that should change.
Russia has now repudiated the agreement into which it entered a year ago by virtue of which thirty two million metric tons of grain have been shipped all over the world by Ukraine, feeding millions who might well have gone hungry, even starved, had that grain been fusilladed by the Russian fleet in the Black Sea.. That surely is what would have happened without the agreement reached under the aegis of the United States and Turkey between Ukraine and Russia to forego such activity as of a year ago. I say "surely" in light of the sadistic bombardment of civilian targets in Ukraine over the past year and a half, setting aside the mindless destruction of property across the nation and innocent lives...innocent even under any definition that Russia might propose...that have also been lost. And then there are the war crimes that have been amply demonstrated on film and in pictures, for which to the best of anyone's knowledge the Russian government has taken no action against the perpetrators. In other words, Russia has sanctioned war crimes, and perhaps even ordered them. There is also the holding hostage of a nuclear power plant at Zaporizhhia in Ukraine and the bombing of a damn that created the reservoir from which water to cool the nuclear reactors was drawn, thus sabotaging the plants continued safety much less its ability to create nuclear powered electricity for millions of people, and the list goes on and on, village by village, and indirectly, country by country. Russia is a terrorist organization, and Vladimir Putin is a terrorist, and I don't care what Xi Jinping says.
Unfortunately, the world, with the possible exception of Tucker Carlson, has reached the same conclusion, though economic isolation and political ostracization have been the only consequences Russia has suffered. And those sanctions have done naught to deter Putin and his gangster army, so what more than castigation is left for the world to do to Putin and the Russians? How can we get the attention of a tin-horn megalomaniac who professes a sort of Russian "manifest destiny" justification for his arbitrary attack on a neighbor nation? My proposal is this formal designation of Russia as a terrorist organization by the United States, but accompanied by what amounts to a petition seeking the endorsements of all other world nations.
I can hear you asking what's the point, America, and here it is. If we effectively take a poll of the nations of the world and then publish the list of signatories, the virtues--the moral fiber--of every nation--will be a matter of record now, and in the foreseeable future. And what would that do, you may ask. The answer is the same as when Russia and Putin try to brand Ukraine a terrorist when it interdicts the transport of supplies from Russia to Ukraine by damaging a bridge built by Russia to reify its illegal claim to the territory of its neighbor, Crimea, or when Ukraine sends a few drones toward Moscow as opposed to the tens of missiles Putin has sent to bomb Kyiv. When Putin pules like a whining child about the retaliatory acts of his victim, which is seeking only self-preservation from a perverse predator, whether the world outwardly laughs or just grimaces in deprecation, that is evidence of the weakness that he seems intent on denying. True, he does have his base of Trumper like acolytes and supporters, and they are as culpable as Putin, but it seems that many, perhaps tens of millions of Russians have had enough. Putin represses them with the obsequious collaboration of the Russian legislature in the Kremlin, the State Duma and the Federation Council, but such pusillanimous submission simply confirms the morally bankrupt entity that Russia has become. Perhaps the Russian people will revolt...again.
I say, let the world hang a label around Russia's collective neck that warns everyone to think twice before having truck with anyone or anything Russian. Let the sneers of the world become a condemnatory glare seen from every direction. And as to the nations that will still view Russia as an ally, even if it only as an expediency, they will know that the world sees them for what they are too. Let the nations of the world declare that Russia's attempted subterfuge of calling its war of aggression and imperialism a "special military action" is a euphemism that changes nothing. Let Russia live in infamy, and let those who abet Russia share that infamy. It may not result in any form of change, but at least we will know who is who.
Your friend,
Mike
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