We see the bestiality of Russian soldiers every day on television as they kill innocent civilians, destroy housing, torture people, loot and rape women. This is not all Putin but must be built into the Russian psyche. These are both conscripts and battle hardened soldiers who perceive the Ukrainians as their mortal enemies, deserving of Russian wrath. How can they so brutalize innocent civilians who in the past were considered the brothers of the Russian nation and whose many citizens speak Russian? All along, Putin has claimed that Ukraine was not a nation but a part of Russia.

Have the Russian soldiers succumbed to the unending lies and propaganda of the Russian state depicting the Ukrainians as Nazis, in spite of the fact their leader Zelinsky is Jewish and was elected by a wide margin as president of Ukraine in a free democracy? Is it revenge for seeing their companions killed by a supposed inferior force and losing battle after battle to the Ukrainian military. What do they gain by destroying cities and homes, killing and torturing citizens and earning undying hatred from the Ukrainians? If the Russians win the war it will never end, as an insurgency will flourish in the soil of hatred that the Russians have fertilized and planted in Ukraine.

The big question now is how can the war end without Putin losing face? Though the Russians have destroyed many cities and villages and killed numerous civilians, they have taken no territory in the center or west of Ukraine. They may be martialing their forces for all out pushes in the east and the south, to cut off Ukraine from the Black Sea and build a land bridge between the Donbas region and Crimea. But will they be able to win these battles and if they succeed will they be able to hold the area against Ukrainian onslaughts.

The war in Ukraine has demonstrated how disorganized and chaotic the Russian military is when fighting a smaller and supposedly weaker enemy. How would their conventional military stack up against NATO forces without using atomic weapons? Most likely they would soon be routed. It appears that the claws and teeth of the Russian bear are decayed and cannot stand up against a determined adversary. Unfortunately, Russia can always fall back on a threat to use nuclear weapons if their military is unable to obtain its objective. But it is hard to see an end game to their war against Ukraine without a decline in status for Putin and the Russian leadership. And perhaps at some point, the Russian people will see through the fog of lies and propaganda that has been fostered upon them by the Russian state. Will there be a reckoning?

Robert A. Levine

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Posted at 09:16 AM in brotherhood, brutality, invasion, Putin, Russia, Ukraine, war crimes, Zelinsky | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tags: brotherhood, brutality, invasion, Putin, Russia, Ukraine, war crimes, Zelinsky