Dear Editor
Putin is now waiting to see if reason plus force works. Like a cat toying with a mouse.
Russia destroyed Grozny to subdue the Chechen revolution. When reason didn’t work, they tried force. When force didn’t work, Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin succeeded with total annihilation. To start, Grozny’s population was 400,000. Even today it is still only 299,000.
We should praise the efforts of Emanuel Macron and Olaf Scholz who had almost patched together a deal with Putin, only to have Joe Biden and Boris Johnson (two half-wits in need of a distraction for their plunging approval ratings) encourage President Zelenskyy to commit mass suicide instead.
Zelenskyy will be hailed as a martyr but ultimately reviled for his hubris in leading millions of innocents into misery, starvation and death. With little planting this spring there could be famine ahead.
We curse Putin, but we must first curse those who persuaded Zelenskyy to cross the well-telegraphed Putin red line. A deal was possible. It was clearly articulated. Its rejection will have dire global consequences.
When, not if Putin is victorious, that will give encouragement for China to invade Taiwan.
With friends like the USA no-one wants any enemies.
Yours sincerely
John Rofe