VLADIMIR PUTIN: RAWAN ON STEROIDS

 

Vladimir Putin: Rawan on Steroids

By T.S. Khanna, March 31, 2022

Foundation For Better Government,

English language does not provide enough words to adequately describe Putin’s character.  In Indian mythology, there exists a character, Rawan, the enemy of Lord Rama, who comes close to Putin.  In satanic deeds, Putin easily excels Rawan.  Putin has proven that if “absolute power corrupts absolutely”, prolonged absolute power turns a person rabid.

 

Public personalities are usually shaped by the consequences of disputes arisen in public affairs.  Dissolution of the USSR in the 1990s shaped Putin’s personality.  He took to heart the loss of Russian power and prestige, as the member countries dropped out in disappointment with Socialism.  Another person in Putin’s place may have been constructively motivated, but Putin believes that power and prestige come from frightening and destroying the weaker countries.

 

Earlier, by his attacks on Georgia in 2008, and annexation of Crimea in 2014, without any opposition from the Western democracies, the emboldened, unprovoked, Putin invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022.

 

During the last few weeks, Putin has been relentlessly destroying Ukraine with power bombs.  He has dislocated over ten million people; nearly four million have taken refuge in the neighboring countries; and, killed many innocent citizens including children.  Never before, so many people have been killed, injured, dislocated in so short a time at the command of one man as they have been by Putin.

 

Ukraine’s President Zellenskyy, in his appeals to stop the one-sided war, has used all the vocabulary and emotions; the reason has been fatigued in the world appeals; ideas have been exhausted in the peace negotiations; numerous homes, hospitals, and huge buildings have been destroyed in Ukraine; world conscience is distressed; and, watching the news gives nightmares to people around the world. But, Putin’s thirst for blood is still not quenched.

 

This is not merely a war on Ukraine; this is a war on human rights; on human freedom; on human morality; on human conscience; on human civilization. It is a war of sophistry, setting precedent to invade, loot, kill, or capture the weaker without restriction, compunction or compensation.  This is a great travesty of justice.

 

Man’s personality is tested either under a great stress or when vested with great power.  Both types are in sight: perseverance, determination, bravery of the Ukrainians, and, the rabid madness of Putin.

 

We urge the U.S. Government to stop the war by direct intervention.  Enough words have been exchanged.  Now the time is for the language that Putin would understand.  What good is the great American power if it does not save the innocent and protect the weak?

PERPETUAL WAR TO PERMANENT PEACE By T.S. Khanna, March 20,2022.

Perpetual War To Permanent Peace

T.S. Khanna, March 20, 2022,

 

After WWI, 1914-18 era, President Wilson at the time, reviewing the enormity of the war atrocities, thought the human experience of that war would be a great deterrent to future wars. 

 

In 1917, Bolshevik Revolution assassinated the Russian Tsar and a Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) was established in 1922, with a great hope for economic progress to improve the lot of the common man.  Russia placed itself in the commanding position, with some countries in the Eastern Europe and the Central Asia as members of the USSR.  WWII, 1939-45, proved Woodrow Wilson otherwise.

 

WWII was followed by a cold war between the power blocs of the Western democracies and the Russian dictatorship, giving rise to The NATO in 1949 and The Warsaw Pact in 1955.  Due to the economic failures and unmet promises, the USSR was dissolved in the 1990s.  The world took a sigh of relief believing that with the end of cold war the resources and efforts would be diverted for the welfare of humanity.

 

But the Russian dictator, Putin has proven otherwise.  He is desperate to recover the lost prestige of Russia due to the dissolution of the USSR.

 

Some historians believe that WWI set the stage for more wars (hot or cold) by inflaming ethnic and nationalist impulses.  In an effort to avert wars, a worldwide institution, United Nations, was established to resolve differences peacefully.  The UN, with no legal force, has had a limited success in the past.

 

As Putin invades the less powerful democratic country of Ukraine, the UN has condemned the invasion, but showed the helplessness to stop it.  Putin has defied the conventional wisdom that it takes two to start a war.  He has proven that it takes only one dictator to make a war on a weaker Ukraine, while several democracies watch feverishly, fearful of escalation if they got involved in protecting Ukraine.  The whole world is sympathetically watching the atrocities being committed on Ukrainians but not doing anything to stop them.

 

Democracies are inherently slow in the decision-making process and much less willed to fight wars. This political culture gives a free hand to a dictator, like Putin, to invade weaker countries and bring them in his fold.  This process gradually keeps transferring more power to dictator who would continue to focus on enhancing their military power to invade the economic production of democratic regimes.

 

Now we are in great need of a new World Order that may be war-proof----a system that may have a legal force to resist human greed, arrogance and the innate human desire to dominate others.  We urge the intellectuals and political scientists to develop plans for discussion.