(Two-minute read) 

That means a settlement to end the war which is now becoming another proxy American war.

Preventative wars do more than just violate international humanitarian law; when powerful countries claim the right to invade other countries and topple their governments based on imagined scenarios that they declare unacceptably, they make the world an even more dangerous place.

Social media has enabled much sound and fury, proving about as productive as a dog’s attempt to chase its tail, albeit much less amusing.

It is ultimately up to the belligerents, Russia and Ukraine, to negotiate an end to the war with a political settlement.

Ukraine has paid a terrible price, while NATO has paid none at all.

This war might have started with Ukrain aspiration to join Nato but Ukraine was part of the Russian empire for centuries and was also part of the USSR.

It became independent in 1991 when the Soviet Union dissolved after the Cold War.

There has been tension between Ukraine’s old ties to Russia and new allegiances with Western nations ever since. More than 14,000 people have died in the fighting in the region, known as the Donbas, and at least two million people have been forced to flee their homes.

Russia did recognize the independence of two eastern provinces in Ukraine and followed up by sending Russian troops across the Ukrainian border.

Even if Russia does win in Ukraine, it would inherit “40 million mostly hostile Ukrainians.

In reality, Putin’s vision of a single people bound together by a common heritage and religion ignores a lot. because the story of Ukraine is not one of uninterrupted Russian brotherhood, but an extended tug-of-war over religion, language, and political control.