LETTER: Mariupol brings to the fore horrific options
28 March 2022 - 16:36
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Service members of pro-Russian troops check cars during Ukraine-Russia conflict in the besieged southern port city of Mariupol, Ukraine, March 20 2022. Picture: ALEXANDER ERMOCHENKO/REUTERS
Mariupol will be remembered in much the same way as Fort St Elmo during the 1565 siege of Malta. As the Turkish army swept westward, mainland Europe watched with alarm. Malta, the Mediterranean choke point, had to hold.
St Elmo was attacked first as the easy outlier. Jean Parisot de Valette knew it couldn’t survive, but the longer it did the less time the Turks would have to overcome the main fortresses before the onset of the autumn storms. Its epic and suicidal 28-day struggle arguably saved Western Europe. It was another Thermopylae.
As long as Mariupol holds, the Russians are prevented from sweeping northward to meet their forces in the Donbas, cutting off the Ukrainian army, which cannot retreat. So far, Mariupol has resisted heroically for more than 30 days, and Vladimir Putin also has time constraints.
However, there is also a difference. Suleiman the Magnificent didn’t have nuclear weapons. After what has happened, Putin cannot just withdraw his forces from the Ukraine. The longer Mariupol fights on, the greater his temptation to use biological or nuclear weapons.
James Cunningham Camps Bay
JOIN THE DISCUSSION: Send us an email with your comments to letters@businesslive.co.za. Letters of more than 300 words will be edited for length. Anonymous correspondence will not be published. Writers should include a daytime telephone number.
Support our award-winning journalism. The Premium package (digital only) is R30 for the first month and thereafter you pay R129 p/m now ad-free for all subscribers.
LETTER: Mariupol brings to the fore horrific options
Mariupol will be remembered in much the same way as Fort St Elmo during the 1565 siege of Malta. As the Turkish army swept westward, mainland Europe watched with alarm. Malta, the Mediterranean choke point, had to hold.
St Elmo was attacked first as the easy outlier. Jean Parisot de Valette knew it couldn’t survive, but the longer it did the less time the Turks would have to overcome the main fortresses before the onset of the autumn storms. Its epic and suicidal 28-day struggle arguably saved Western Europe. It was another Thermopylae.
As long as Mariupol holds, the Russians are prevented from sweeping northward to meet their forces in the Donbas, cutting off the Ukrainian army, which cannot retreat. So far, Mariupol has resisted heroically for more than 30 days, and Vladimir Putin also has time constraints.
However, there is also a difference. Suleiman the Magnificent didn’t have nuclear weapons. After what has happened, Putin cannot just withdraw his forces from the Ukraine. The longer Mariupol fights on, the greater his temptation to use biological or nuclear weapons.
James Cunningham
Camps Bay
JOIN THE DISCUSSION: Send us an email with your comments to letters@businesslive.co.za. Letters of more than 300 words will be edited for length. Anonymous correspondence will not be published. Writers should include a daytime telephone number.
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