Russia: You Don’t Need One Square Centimeter of Ukraine to Be Great
National Greatness is something decided by History after many historical events have passed and the National Character is well understood and documented. It is no longer built at the end of a gun barrel but by cultural, economic and intellectual achievements. Certainly it can also involve heroic military defense of the nation that is existentially threatened or attacked, such as when the Soviet Union was attacked by Nazi Germany. And in Bygone History, at a time of changing borders, conquest and wild frontiers, we can even include past bold expansions into neighboring territories that established the Modern Map of the World in another Era. That Era has been over for some time and there is no returning.
We can only create new maps with peaceful cooperation such as we see with the European Economic Union where each participant is voluntary and aspirational based on mutual interests, values and cooperation.
Notwithstanding their current shameful and barbaric misadventure into Ukraine, Russia could claim much cultural greatness already and should be very satisfied with that as a foundation to build further greatness upon. Besides that, they enjoy having the largest country on Earth spanning 11 time zones and having a greater surface area than all of Pluto. The are a physically great nation already, with majestic forests, rivers, mountains and an almost inexhaustible supply of natural resources.
Russian scientific and cultural achievements are astonishing and profound ranging from the invention of the Periodic Table of Elements to the first man in space to the Bolshoi Ballet and great composers such as Tchaikovsky and writers such as Dostoevsky and Tolstoy. Tragically, those are now being overshadowed and even eclipsed by a new reality. Russia as pariah. Russia as bully. Russia as war criminal. Russia as heartless. Russia as immoral and yes, Russia as evil. These are nearly permanent stains upon the great History of Russia and the perception of the Russian Culture. National Greatness and reputation must be carefully maintained once achieved like tending to a delicate work of priceless art. Once you deface the art, it’s almost impossible to restore it to its former glory.
The most tragic thing about this unfortunate downturn is how optional, unnecessary and futile it was in its concept and is in its doing. Nothing Russia hoped to achieve by invading its ancient Slavic neighbor is either justifiable or logical. You would think they would have learned this lesson in Afghanistan. One of the things that makes this stain so permanent is that is is being recorded in high definition from the ground and from space for all of history to see forever. Embarrassing and shameful to the Russian people for centuries to come, these records will also be used to presecute war criminals. In a way, this demonstrates a lack of mental capacity to not understand how completely their atrocities are being documented in the 21st Century.
To destroy that which you conquer, is to “gain” a destroyed land in need of massive repairs and reconstruction at great expense. That’s like hunting for game with a machine gun or a bomb that destroys the food you sought. Stupid. Add to this the fact that many parts of Ukraine are historical treasures that go back well over 1,000 years and so this random and massive bombing and shelling is also wiping away cultural legacies that belong to all of humanity. Criminal. Especially sad when you know that Russia is destroying the cradle of its own Slavic history. Each town and each city in Ukraine was lovingly built to be pleasant and peaceful and often inspiring to the people with great craftsmanship and artistry. And this is the lesser sin of their ruin!
The record will show in every form, from every angle that great atrocities were committed by Russia and its soldiers upon the ordinary, non-combatant people of Ukraine. Unspeakable acts of savagery, rape, wanton murder, torture and destruction are being shown to the world, even as they happen at times. There are countless eyewitnesses, phone videos, drone videos, intercepted communications and satellite photos, both public and classified, that will create an overwhelming mountain of evidence against Russia.
To occupy such a land requires the impossible task of converting its 40 million people whose lives you have shattered, whose children you have killed, whose hard-built cities you have ruined from deepest hatred to willing citizens. That is pure nonsensical and insane thinking. Besides that, the entire World utterly rejects your imaginary “conquest” so you become an illegal squatter on land that simply does not belong to Russia, regardless of whether it ever did in Bygone Days and will NEVER be recognized as the rightful owner of that land any more than a murdering thief who kills the occupants of a house and calls it their house. Except this house has 40 million occupants left who despise you. Delusional.
On top of that, this is the 21st Century and so now a disgusted, angry, indignant World of Civilized Nations with advanced technological means are aligning against Russia and FOR Ukraine on a massive scale so Russia will face a MUCH more advanced enemy than they did in Afghanistan. We see the results already as I write this—10 years worth of casualties in 1 month. This toll will mount ever faster as even more advanced weapons meet up with an even more motivated, growing, trained and organized Ukrainian military. Ukrainians themselves are not good enemies to have as they are fierce, very smart and quite technologically sophisticated themselves. But add to this native capability, the help of the wealthiest and most technically advanced nations in the world and Russia will simply reap the whirlwind.
If that weren’t bad enough for Russia, the World has also decided to economically thrash Russia from every possible angle, eventually creating a complete embargo on banking, products, investments, services, technology, information and trade, also collapsing the Ruble to worthlessness. This will have a long-lasting and devastating and growing downward effect on everyday life in Russia that in one month went from normal modern living to a dire throwback to the worst days of the 20th Century. All for nothing. Nothing for all.
The timing could not be worse. We are at a time of geometric, explosive growth of knowledge in every category and miraculous technological leaps and to be left out of the sharing of that knowledge will effectively leave Russia in the dust. Barely able to feed themselves and enjoy a normal life, having a great brain drain of exiled talent, having been cut off from their primary income source from oil, they will simply not be able to keep up with the rest of the world. Indeed, even oil is on the verge of becoming moot as an energy source as the Fusion Age and Renewable Energy take off. If Russia would have spent less time and effort coveting Ukraine and building new bombs, they could have been a world leader in many of these areas and well loved. Too late for that, poor delusional Russia!
Russia, though we will certainly blame above all your one, all-powerful, despotic leader, Vladimir Putin, we will not let the people off the hook so easily. Because we have seen real courage in the face of danger in the Ukrainian public, nearly to every single man, woman and child willing to sacrifice life and limb for freedom, we will compare the Russian people who appear to cower before Putin and worse, seem to even support his terrible actions. It’s not entirely their fault but they did allow the pot to come to a boil over many years of diminishing rights and gradual brainwashing. Let this be a harsh lesson. NEVER allow an autocrat to assume so much power into the hands of one person. Short of a benevolent philosopher king, it never works out for the benefit of the people.
If the Russians were half as great as we once thought they were, they would be in the streets by the millions, not a few hundreds here and there, tearing the Kremlin to shreds until Putin’s head was on a pike or better, dragged before an International Court to face Humiliation and Justice for all of his many crimes. This would begin to redeem the Russian Reputation. Indeed, such courage would be the ultimate proof that the Russian soul is not lost to some demonic force and that there is in the Russian heart a desire to be respected for all the right reasons, not because of a nuclear arsenal built 70 years ago from spy-stolen intellectual property, but for its heritage, culture and achievements in the service of humanity.
If for whatever reason of insanity and obviously irrational behavior, Russia decides to actually use one or more nuclear weapons, forget what will happen to the rest of the world (unspeakable misery), which WILL survive and rebuild eventually. What will happen to Russia is it will cease to exist. Its history will be erased figuratively and literally and the world will pick over the carcass of Russia, dividing it among nations, much going to Ukraine and Europe, some to China, some to Mongolia, etc. Gone.
Russia, you honestly don’t need and have never have needed to “own” Ukraine, Crimea, any of it. It makes you seem so insecure and weak to covet your neighbor so bizarrely when you have so much already. It’s greedy. It’s unconscionable. It’s uncivilized and it’s frankly shameful to watch as a fellow world citizen with many Russian friends who I love dearly. I can only imagine the agonizing embarrassment and shame you have brought to them and it hurts to know that they have to deal with this travesty that’s completely out of their control but cuts into their cultural identity and pride.
It’s very hard to see how Russia extracts itself from this utterly self-inflicted wound without first deposing dictator Vladimir Putin from power, including all of his cronies and secret police. Only the Russian People should solve this problem but if they don’t or can’t and Russia continues down this path of senseless destruction, the rest of the world sure as hell will out of necessity.
Russia can still be great again some day, IF they make some serious changes very soon and work hard to make amends and rejoin the civilized world. For now, they are anything but great. They are pathetic.
