Putin Forces New Set of Rules on the World

Vladimir Putin was wrong. What Russia has done to Ukraine violates international law. And it violates basic, fundamental, moral principles.

Good people around the world are not afraid to stand up in protest of Putin’s actions. About that, there is unity across Europe. Putin forced a very difficult issue and only Iran and China seem to side with Russia — and that, is very telling.  

Vladimir Putin has pushed us all towards a new world. And the new world comes with a new set of rules. 

Western-leaning governments and international organizations are trying to determine what they can do to help protect Ukrainians from the Russians. Not what they can say, but what they can do. 

Mouthing the words "Putin is wrong" and "Let’s support Zelenskyy and his people defending against the aggression of Russia" is easy. The difficulty is in translating those expressions into actions — actions that keep Ukraine safe.    

The United Nations? NATO? Even the Unites States? What magic can they work in the face of this irrational, life threatening, discordant behavior?

Putting boots on the ground or sending planes up into the air will only escalate the situation. That should be obvious. Direct fighting — warfare, between Russia and either the United States or NATO would almost certainly trigger a world war.

Short of sanctions, sanctions and even harsher sanctions, the only sensible response is to isolate Russia even more than the isolation Putin’s domain now lives under.

That means expelling Russian participants from international sports and cultural events. It means removing Russian professionals from science-based organizations, activities and conferences. It means expelling Russian diplomats. 

It does not mean just shutting Russia’s commercial travel out of airspace. I also mean closing seaports to shipping!

To even the playing field, Ukraine needs weapons. More and more weapons. Ukraine needs weapons and will continue to need weapons. This is a lesson that should have been learned from the debacle of Afghanistan.

Russia should have paid better attention. Once the United States provided shoulder-mounted missiles, like Stingers and Javelins, to the Mujahadeen the game changed dramatically. Suddenly Russia discovered that people who were living in caves were shooting down Russian MIGs.

These are simple point-and-shoot and throw-away weapons. It takes little to no training to learn to engage in warfare with these weapons.

An untrained but highly motivated person can destroy a world-class tank or fighter jet by simply turning one on, pointing and pulling its trigger. These weapons are just as ideal for Ukrainians fighting Russians in 2022 as they were for Afghanis fighting Russia in the 1980s.  

Germany held by a principle. For decades Germany would not deliver weapons into an area of conflict. Their point was not to fuel the conflict, but to provide defensive tools in advance. To prevent a conflict, not to further the fighting.

The Germans believed that providing weapons lengthens the fighting and that more people, especially innocent people, die. Better to end the conflict faster than to provide weapons during a battle.

In 2022 Germany broke with their longstanding tradition and promised to deliver 1,000 shoulder mounted weapons to Ukraine. Germany adjusted their tradition and concluded that the weapons would make a difference. Germany knows firsthand about conflicts caused by men with out-sized egos and a penchant for destruction. 

Germany knows about dictators. And Vladimir Putin is a dictator. 

While there are some elements of democracy within Russia, Putin is definitely a dictatorial, authoritarian leader. Russia today might be less of a dictatorship than it was under Stalin, but Putin’s Russia is definitely run by a dictator.

Not too long ago I wrote a book called "THUGS." I focused on some of the most-evil leaders in the world throughout history and it offered me tremendous insight into authoritarian leaders.

These leaders share essential character traits that give us insight into Putin. 

Dictators are always right. All of them, all the time. They hate to be wrong and surround themselves with people who only tell them that they are correct. When something goes wrong, the leaders were not wrong, the advisers were wrong. And the advisers pay the price.

Dictators, even the most benevolent dictators, are vastly removed from reality and from the everyday life of the people. They have no understanding of real issues that confront the people. 

Dictators are greedy and they want more. No matter how much they have, they push for more and then even more. They are never satisfied. There is always something, somewhere, that they want.

Dictators believe that they speak the truth. They do not think that they are lying. The truth is whatever they say it is, and they say whatever they need to say to get what they want.

There is no honor and no such thing as a treaty or lasting agreement. Everything is of the moment, and when a better or different opportunity is presented, the previous agreement is thrown out the window.

The world is now different, but it is not better. Putin is neither the only nor the final dictator any of us will encounter in our lifetimes. The best we can do is pre-plan strategies to diffuse their aggression and to preserve the good in our lives and in our world.