Global Eyes
Two weeks of the worst days Europe has seen since the Second World War
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By the Cosmopolitan Globalists
Olga Tokariuk writes: The West believes it has a choice whether it should directly confront Vladimir Putin in Ukraine. It really doesn’t.
There is a lesson from Ukraine that the world hasn’t yet learned and it’s this: Russia only stops when it is stopped. It only understands strength and action, not words. And it is not as powerful as it looks: if Ukrainians can make Russian soldiers flee and surrender en masse, so can others.
It’s a very hard conclusion to digest, but the truth is that Putin has made armed conflict with the West inevitable. It has already begun. The costs of helping Ukraine now—with air support and genuine, military enabled humanitarian assistance at the very least—are relatively low. They will only grow if Putin succeeds in occupying the country, placing Russian forces only a gunshot away from NATO forces and a broader conflict.
Toomas Hendrik Ilves: We told you so. “Poland and the Baltic states understand the Kremlin better than Western governments, but found their warnings about Putin ignored.”
Ukraine: News and notes
In the past day, Russia bombed a children’s hospital and maternity ward in Mariupol and a nursing home for elderly. According to Illia Ponomarenko, a defense reporter for the Kyiv Independent, Russia has dramatically reduced its engagement with Ukrainian military targets in preference for air strikes against Ukraine’s civilian population and infrastructure. They seem to be avoiding ground combat, presumably because Ukrainians keep destroying their troops and equipment. So their focus now is on what they do best: bombing cities, terrorizing civilians, looting, and raping.
The Kremlin says the United States has unleashed economic war on Russia. (It’s a “special economic operation.”—Claire.)
After a Week of Siege, Bloodied Mariupol Plans Mass Graves.
Ukraine’s nuclear energy operator says that they're still waiting for a cease-fire to go in for their teams to repair the Chernobyl plant. “OUR REPAIR TEAMS ARE READY TO RESTORE THE LINE IMMEDIATELY, DESPITE THE THREAT OF BEING SHOT BY THE ENEMY AND ARE WAITING FOR PERMISSION.”
There are now 200,000 Ukrainian refugees in Warsaw alone, making up ten percent of its population.
London drops the hammer on the oligarchs. Finally. Roman Abramovich, Oleg Deripaska, Igor Sechin, Andrey Kostin, Alexei Miller, Nikolai Tokarev, and Dmitri Lebedev have all been sanctioned; their assets frozen. Estimated worth: US$19.7 billion. Mind you, they’ve had weeks to hide their assets.
Worth revisiting: How Finns used the motti tactic to entrap Soviets in Winter War. “The Soviets were vastly superior in terms of soldiers, tanks and warplanes. However, with the help of this tactic, the Finns were still able to inflict great sufferings on them.” (Might this be what’s happening to that monster convoy? But how could that be? You wouldn’t expect Russia to make that mistake twice, would you?—Claire) Also worth revisiting: a review of The International Brigades: Fascism, Freedom and the Spanish Civil War.
Kyiv metro stations, now being used as bomb shelters, will soon hold movie screenings. City authorities say Ukrainian films of different genres will be shown at metro stations all over the capital.
The alleged insider at the FSB keeps leaking. Here’s his second missive:
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