Putin should reconsider. He has made his point, no shame in pulling back now. Comparing Iraq/Saddam to Ukraine/Zelensky…

World leaders should focus on de-escalation. It won’t be seen as appeasement, if handled properly. They can help Putin pull back and out of Ukraine without losing face.

The war in Iraq (desert storm) to topple Saddam Hussein came after he was accused of bullying his neighbour (Kuwait) and hiding huge weapons of mass destruction, not after years of allegedly brutalising parts of his own country (e.g. the Kurds) – that was supposedly acceptable? Well, or rather, was seen as strictly internal business..

I wonder what the global reaction would have been, if Russia had said their intelligence told them that Ukraine had weapons of mass destruction and that is the reason Russia had to attack them? After all, that was the acceptable reason Iraq got pummelled and those weapons of mass destruction were never found, because they didn’t exist – and Saddam turned to be all bark and very little bite! —- oops! But what a very costly (in terms of human lives on all sides involved) way to find that out…

Ukraine could be accused of a similar aggression to their want-away regions – supposedly Russia-leaning parts of Ukraine – that Russia claim to be defending in similar manner to how we all went in to supposedly help Kuwait? Before that turned into a full war to find Saddam’s weapons of mass destruction….?

I tried hard to think of reasons that could differentiate and excuse the Saddam pummelling (and outcome) when compared to the present Russian pummelling of Ukraine and I couldn’t find many differentiators, other than the fact that Putin hasn’t told the world he’s out there trying to locate Ukraine’s weapons of mass destruction – which he doesn’t necessarily have to find…

Although some conspiracy theorists would link the wars in Iraq to oil, I personally believe America and their allies meant well and truly believed they were trying to help Kuwait, oppressed iraqis etc. And I believe it was the same with Libya; the intention was noble. The purpose was to help. But the outcome, which is the same in Syria and other places, make it clear that these military interventions, including Russia’s ongoing incursion into Ukraine – for whatever reason Putin has – is never the correct thing to do. Global reaction is always muted when some countries do the exact same thing that Russia are doing right now, with equally spurious excuses, but when others such as Russia do it, hypocrisy set in: where were FIFA, UEFA and all these sporting bodies who are now banning Russia, during previous incursions that the UN didn’t sanction? That is why it is simpler to just BAN wars/military incursions entirely..

What Russia are presently doing in Ukraine is inexcusable and should not happen – and will hopefully end urgently – but the global reaction to this or any other wars or military incursions should be the same. The world MUST stand firmly against all wars. Countries with a grievance must find other means of settling their grievances! Military forces should only be used in defence or deterrence. But this has to be a universal convention that NO EXCUSES, NO COUNTRY should be able to contravene. Consequences must be the same in all instances and not as selective as it presently is.