8/11/2019 An Epitaph for War

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War Never Changes...

For all the talk on the news right now, the reality must be faced that war with Russia is closer now

than it has been for decades; closer than during much of the Cold War, in all honesty. Russian forces

have elected to occupy parts of kraine, and the country is being carved like a roast. Now, ! can see

both sides of this story. "o the West, this is a power grab. "o the #ast, this is Russian people wanting

to be a part of Russia. "he reality is that both of these things are true.

$o what is it now to be% &eterrence has failed; the nited $tates and nited 'ingdom have called

upon Russia to stop, and yet they carry on, presuming that we will not opt to push the situation any

further. Can anyone out there imagine 'hrushchev doing this% We almost had a nuclear war when

the $$R gave weapons to an ally ( what if he had grabbed parts of !taly, claiming that they were

ethnically )ugoslavian, or sent troops into West *ermany% +resident +utin has looked at the West

and found it wanting, and so believes that he can do whatever he wants.

Now ( we have got the conventional forces to stop him. ust the # could manage it; certainly a

$-# alliance ! believe that there is a body called N/"0 that was specifically set up for stuff like

this1 could send forces into kraine and end this tomorrow. 2ut at this stage, the chances aree3cellent that this would mean war. War between two ma4or powers, something that everyone had

thought could never happen again. "he parado3 of this situation is that had Russia thought that we

would start a war over kraine, none of this would have happened; our leadership has failed here,

make no mistake about it.

5et6s look at the best-case scenariofor such a war. "ens of thousands dead, hundreds of thousands

wounded, millions homeless. /nd that6s optimistic; Russia has an avowedfirst-strike nuclear

policy."ry tens of millionsdead. 7undreds of millions with radiation sickness. 2illions homeless. /

great civili8ation toppling into the dust to 4oin countless others before it. "hat6s what we6re facing

today ( the reality behind the rhetoric.

$o what is it to be% !s it worth it% Can6t we do better than this, for all our progress, all our science,

all our culture% 7ave we fought, struggled and died for eight thousand years to simply see our few

shattered survivors retreat back to the caves from whence we came% ! have to hope that we are

better than that. !6ve got to. /nd if anyone thinks that means 6giving into aggression6, you aren6t

reading this right.

)ou want a solution, assembled diplomats of the world% 0', try this. /ccept the results of the

referendums that have been held in #ast kraine, and in Crimea. $end in a peacekeeping force that

is one9third N/"0, one9third Russian, one9third Neutral ( say $weden ( under a Neutral command.

"hen, in two months, have the N conduct a free and fair referendum for each region offering tochance to 4oin Russia or kraine, or to remain independent. "hat gives everyone what they say they

want ( the chance to choose their fate. /nd this way, the results are unimpeachable. #veryone can

monitor, but no9one can interfere.

#nd of crisis. !t6s time for everyone to put their egos back in their trousers and start using their

brains again.