"Who in the name of God does he think he is ?" said US President Biden, speaking of his opposite number in the Kremlin, Vladimir Putin. Well, Mr Biden, Putin thinks he is Emperor of all the Russias and he's probably right.
In the 1930s, another psychopath, Adolph Hitler, decided that all ethnic Germans, or Aryans as he termed them, should be under one flag and so he invaded the Sudetenland, part of Czechoslovakia; the rest of the world tutted, but did nothing more. Prime Minister of the UK, Neville Chamberlain, flew to Berlin and came back waving a piece of paper which apparently confirmed Hitler had no other designs. Of course this was poppycock and it wasn't long before the German war machine, something which had been outlawed by various treaties and agreements, rolled into Poland and the Second World War began.
Three quarters of a century later, Putin began to pursue a similar plan. All Russian speakers should be under one flag, he claimed, and set about recreating the Soviet Union which had been broken up in the years immediately following the smashing of the Berlin Wall in 1989. Various new, or resurrected, states in the south west of the old Soviet area of control began to find themselves under threat, eventually invaded and ultimately restored to control from Moscow. In 2014, Putin took the bold step of invading and occupying the Crimea, legally an integral part of Ukraine; the rest of the world tutted, again, but did nothing more.
In recent months, Putin has amassed a vast army along the Russian border with Ukraine; the world has tutted, dozens of diplomats and politicians have journeyed to Moscow and returned with various demands, moderated with assurances that Russia has no intention of invading Ukraine. Little more than 36 hours ago, Russia invaded Ukraine.
Putin claimed that this was a 'peace keeping' operation and that he was only trying to bring peace to areas of Ukraine in which there have been separatist movements causing trouble for some years. What this has to do with Russia is a mystery; the same logic could be used by France to invade the Basque region of Spain or the forces of Eire to invade Northern Ireland. That Putin's claims were utter rubbish has been proven by the fierce fighting much closer to the Ukrainian capital, Kiev, missile assaults on both Kiev and a nearby airfield, locations nowhere near the claimed separatist areas.
During all of this, the United Nations has said very little and done even less; that it is a completely useless and toothless organisation which consumes vast amounts of money must be obvious to all. The European Union and NATO have made noises but done nothing significant to prevent the invasion and occupation of a sovereign European state by a highly militaristic and expansionary nation. The European Union, the United Kingdom and United States have made lots of noises and warned of very damaging sanctions against Russia, Russian organisations and wealthy Russian individuals. None of this has caused Putin any concern and the invasion has continued. Indeed, Putin has even threatened the Western powers that any actual intervention by them will result in the most appalling consequences, a thinly veiled threat that he may deploy nuclear weapons. The UN, NATO, EU, US and UK have all been shown to be utterly toothless.
Part of the problem is that the Western civilized, democratic world has, for years, allowed Putin to build a power base from which he is in control of critical economic elements. Much of Europe is reliant on Russian oil and gas, Russia is a major exporter of wheat and various essential metals; at the touch of a switch, Putin can virtually cripple European economies which have become far more concerned about the nebulous nonsense of equality, diversity and 'net zero' than in manufacturing. These European nations have allowed themselves to believe that Russia was a friendly country, one which could be brought into the fold, rather than seeing it for what it is - a state under the control of a vile, autocratic, psychopathic monster who will stop at nothing to achieve his ends. Thankfully, Hitler never developed nuclear weapons - Putin has them in thousands and has made it clear that he might well opt to use them if the West gets in his way. To all intents and purposes, Ukraine is lost and Putin has won Round One of what could easily become a long and horrendous conflict affecting much of eastern Europe.
Far too late in the day, Boris Johnson has talked of Europe becoming independent of Russian oil and gas although he has done nothing to ramp up production from our own North Sea fields or to give the green light to 'fracking'; in fact, it's only a few days since fracking was all but banned for good from the UK. With inflation soaring and an energy crisis already in place, Johnson actually has an opportunity to not only help the rest of Europe but boost our own economy, yet there is no sign that he will do either. 'Net Zero', and the 'equality, diversity and inclusion', lunacy which tries to redefine our culture and history, language and even our biology have taken precedence over all else. None of these are of concern to a man like Putin and they are a terminal weakness to a society which has become obsessed with such matters, inward looking and afraid to .stand up for itself.
Putin has won in Ukraine. Next stop - Estonia ? Lithuania ? Latvia ? Romania ? Poland ? Yesterday, President 'Sleepy Joe' Biden was seen smirking as he was asked questions about the current situation. Clearly the US will not intervene in a war which is many miles from its shores and does not involve a NATO country, but what will it do if Putin's next target is a NATO country ? What if Russian troops next march into Estonia or Romania ? Putin knows that the West is scared of him and what he might do if he is opposed; he has the upper hand, just as Hitler had, up until he went one step too far and invaded Poland.
The parallels are too great. Putin is today's Hitler and he will not stop until he is made to, but is anyone brave enough to stand up to him ? We will soon find out.
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