It’s the war’s anniversary and are we, the West, still condemned to repeat the mistakes of the past? Why?
Because WE HAVE NOT LEARNED THE LESSON: THAT IT IS A MISTAKE TO GIVE IN TO AN ACT OF EVIL, i.e., ’NOT TAKE ACTION’ IN ORDER “TO AVOID A GREATER EVIL”!
That fault lies not in the stars, but in the West, in free democracies. So we have to look to us; not to ”punditing”Putin.
The West has always been “let’s be reasonable”, conciliatory; and hence given in to Monsters’ little harms / damage. In other words, the West has always given the Monsters their initial bite at the apple in the hopes that they in turn would then be reasonable (and satisfied)!
But, the Monsters have always read the situation differently. Whatever our threatening or our fancy conciliatory language, so long as the West attempts to be reasonable & compromise, we always get the same result. Aggressors always treat it as: YOU GAVE ME AN INCH, I CAN TAKE A MILE.
And yes, like Putin, they often are smart and disciplined enough to take the mile in small bites: Crimea, little green men into Donetsk and Luhansk; then whole hog.
In the wake of Hitler’s progressively more horrible actions responses were often exemplified by the Latin formulation Ad Maiora Mala Vitanda and so to give in to the evil act – ‘in order to avoid / to prevent a greater evil.’
Today, that language and idea is so discredited vis-a-vis Hitler that one can no longer say it openly. So the West uses other fancy words – to disguise our continuing same mistaken response behavior. What do our supposed smart leaders say today? “Yes, we have to help, but only so much…. ” Why? “To AVOID BEING ESCALATORY!”
Always: to avoid being escalatory ( to avoid a greater evil) has lead Monsters to more bites at the apple ! It has led to the ‘long war of attrition’ in Ukraine – to greater harm overall and more painful loss of life and wealth in the long run. ‘Cause monsters are never satisfied until stopped!
When will we ever learn?
When will we ever learn?
common sense Blog 