The areas claimed to be annexed by Russia are effectively wastelands. They’ll cost billions to rebuild The feeble Russian “army” (for want of appropriate scatology) can’t and probably won’t defend them. The world will never accept their annexation. The Ukrainians will simply ignore the annexations anyway.
The one and only consistent factor in the Russian invasion of Ukraine is its total lack of comprehension of realities. “From military disaster to military catastrophe to economic suicide to Armageddon” isn’t really that great an itinerary.
Nukes – The sole remaining Russian card
The theory behind this latest idiocy is that if the “annexed” regions are officially part of Russia, it’s therefore according to this logic OK to use nukes to defend it. No, it isn’t. The world won’t like it. Nor will any Russian survivors.
The other theory is that the world will be intimidated by the nukes. No, it won’t. The last 7 months have been quite enough to prove that no credible deal is possible with the Russian regime. Tolerating threats isn’t and never was an option.
Even assuming that any of Russia’s 1500-2000 actively deployed missiles work any better than the rest of the hock shop previously called the Russian military, they’re severely outgunned. It’s quite possible their various vintages of telemetry and guidance won’t work anyway. Any attack on Western or Ukrainian cities will bring instant, massive, retaliation.
The other reason
There’s one reason that nobody ever considered regarding a nuclear war – That nobody would care. The world is in the midst of multiple very serious crises. Pandemics, droughts, famines, hurricanes, inflation, housing, education, heatwaves, American politics; you name it. A nuclear war can only be just another disaster.
That rather idiosyncratic issue matters, a lot. The world is already quite annoyed enough. Russia is effectively volunteering itself to be something for the world to shoot. The world is in no mood for any crap of any kind, despite the kindly ministrations of FOX News.
It’s a sort of criminal psychology. Simply because other people play nice and follow laws, most criminals think they can get away with anything. Criminals get more protection by laws than anyone else. The problem with this logic is that when those laws break down, it’s the criminals who are unprotected. A nuclear war would be a great way of getting rid of all those pesky laws for a while.
An additional dimension in this faulty logic is that most criminals think people are stupid, particularly for following laws. It apparently hasn’t occurred to the criminal geniuses that there’s nothing physically preventing anyone on Earth from shooting any criminal they see. That also applies to criminal regimes.
Maybe some additional information might help:
- When the Nazis committed war crimes, the world spent decades hunting them down including low-ranking individuals.
- Germany has survived and noticeably prospered without the Nazis and their insanities. …In much the same way Russia briefly prospered without an equally oppressive regime, strangely enough.
- Not all payback to war criminals is done “officially”. Any association with crimes against humanity can be a very stupid idea.
- A few flimsy corrupt tinpot regimes are no defense against the world. There’s nowhere to hide.
- Displaced populations simply went home, or wherever they wanted. There’s no “hostage” scenario in this situation.
Any guesses about what might happen?
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Disclaimer
The opinions expressed in this Op-Ed are those of the author. They do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of the Digital Journal or its members.
