LETTER: Ukraine will leave Russia scarred for life

Every president has a defining moment that tests their leadership and character. For Nelson Mandela it was the assassination of Chris Hani. For Barack Obama it was when Syrian President Bashar Assad government killed hundreds of his people with nerve gas. Obama, who hated war, could not stand and issue threats alone. His credibility was on the line. Assad had crossed the moral red line.

Current US President Joe Biden faces such a moment now that Russian President Vladimir Putin has recognised the separatist regions of Donestsk and Luhansk as independent. It is an open declaration of war. The time for talking is over. If you ever doubted Putin’s evil intentions, look at the disfigured face of pro-West former Ukraine president Viktor Yushchenko, caused by dioxin poisoning.

Putin will stop at nothing until he achieves his quixotic delusion of restoring the old Soviet empire and borders. His 2021 7,000-word essay spelt out his megalomaniac ambitions. Since his re-election for a fourth term in 2018 Putin has seen himself as Russia’s saviour.

His two-hour long revisionist speech on Monday proves that the first casualty of war is indeed truth. In sending a “peace” force to Donestsk Putin is repeating Leonid Brezhnev’s 1979 mistake in Afghanistan. Moscow was worried that Afghanistan was turning to the West for support. A decade later the Soviets left Afghanistan a defeated army.

But their decision had unintended consequences, giving birth to a new age terrorism, including Al-Qaeda and Isis. Ukraine too will leave Russia scarred for life. 

Dr Lucas Ntyintyane
Via email

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