Ukraine: We cannot risk nuclear war.

Russia, the enemy, is afoot in Ukraine, yet The West demurs to engage properly, preferring instead to wage a proxy war. In this stance the West and NATO show themselves to be weak and effete, worse than this, The West has the blood of Russian atrocities against Ukrainian civilians on its hands.

So, we are told, by people of such spinelessness one can only consider them worms, people who hold power over our civilisation: We are told that we cannot risk engaging with the Russians because it risks nuclear war.

Let's explore this...

So we sacrifice Ukraine because we cannot risk nuclear war. OK, that's now.

What then of Latvia or Estonia? Are we willing to risk nuclear war for them? Ah, but, you say: "They're in NATO and Ukraine is not subject to such Article 5 guarantees." The problem is that this is factually wrong.

So, we are willing to sacrifice Lativia and Estonia, what then of Poland or Hungary? Are they such strategic regions that The West and NATO are willing to risk nuclear war?

I suspect that, if the worms are honest they will reply that Poland and Hungary are not worth risking nuclear war.

OK. We can live in a world where this is the case: That NATO and The West will never take any action that risks nuclear war. This is actually a conceivable state, and it has a long history in relationships between nations. The term for it is a vassal state, a state subservient to a greater power.

But to be clear, and accept no obfuscation or bargaining on this issue: A state in which Russia is allowed to get away with deterring us with threats of nuclear weapons means we, The West, become the subservient partner in dealings with all other nuclear powers. And just as the weakness of The West has invited the horror of the Russian violence against Ukraine, this will embolden our enemies to the point at which we will fade into the autumn of our civilisation. As a civilisation with a political class that is largely unable to say what a woman or a man is, we are currently firmly on the path of decline.

For the Ukrainians the war is a fight for national survival in the face of a force of reckless hatred. For The West this is a Rubicon, if we continue to stand aside we lose any pretence of moral standing, our friends view us as useless in a conflict and our enemies know our weakness. If we engage and fight then we show our enemies we will not be cowed and that The West are still a force with which to reckon, and even fear. The latter being, perhaps the most important factor when dealing with the authoritarian or totalitarian mindset (systems that favour the ascendance to power of psychopaths).

Even at 47 days in, when Russia has taken a beating from the Ukraine, it is not too late to at least make Ukraine a no-fly zone. It is not too late then to enshrine our sanctions in law and force Russia into the arms of China, to become their vassal state (probably the safest state for Russia from now on). Not too late to build a new Steel Curtain, to cast the future as one of The West's dictation. But to do so we need to understand one critical detail about Putin, he understands and respects only overwhelming force. 

We cannot negotiate with Russia, we must have the power to dictate terms. More than that, The West must have the will to exercise this power, and that means being prepared to dispense with our crippling safety culture and take risks.