As the current David and Goliath situation between the Ukraine and Russia continues to unfold, I can’t help but wonder how far the bully Goliath will go before someone actually offers some serious help to David. I mean more help than refusing to play with the bully and shining blue and yellow lights on international landmarks.
We know that the bully is a superpower, and we know that the Ukraine is not. The Ukraine is trying to hold on to everything they have worked so hard for. Things like their values, their land and their freedom.
And as Russia continues to bomb and send troops into the Ukraine, killing its citizens and forcing them to flee, I feel for the Ukrainian people. Their homeland is being destroyed, their lives turned upside down. All I can do is donate some money to refugee causes to help them out, and not that much money either because I am not Leonardo DiCaprio. Leo very generously donated ten million dollars. My little bit pales by comparison. By the way, thanks Leo. There should be more famous people like you in the world. Now, can you do anything about the bully?
What if the bully wants more? What if the bully has ambitions beyond the Ukraine. Poland remembers what it was like to be invaded and occupied, so Poland is invested in assisting the Ukraine as much as possible. Poland doesn’t want to be the next target.
I am, by no means, an expert in world politics. But like most people my age, I am familiar with European history. So much has been written about Hitler and how far he went with his ambitions before he was stopped. If you want to know how much damage a bully can do, just look at Hitler.
The whole world knows that the Russian bully doesn’t like to lose. He has no intention of negotiating unless he gets exactly what he wants. He likes to rant and make threats and tell the world that even sanctions are declarations of war. The man is a blowhard. Unfortunately he is a blowhard in charge of a superpower, and that’s the problem. The world is afraid of this bully. Countries are doing everything possible not to make him aggressively mad at them. And although the people of Russia will suffer the consequences, that won’t stop the bully. The bully will just dig in and get spiteful, the way all bullies do. Sadly, this confrontation could be a long one.
So all this makes me think about the downside of living next to a superpower. As a Canadian, I live next door to a very powerful nation. One considered, by many, to be the world’s greatest superpower. Mostly relations between our two countries are amicable. But recently under the previous administration south of the boarder, they were not. They were tense. What if a nut-job, power-hungry bully gets voted in? What if this power-hungry bully decides he wants what we have built up over the years. We are a country big on mass and resources but small on military might. If some superpower bully decided to take over our country with bombs and tanks, who would help us?
Thank you for reading.
Photo: Patrick Fore @patrickian4 Unsplash
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let’s hope that this conflict is ended soon, and Putin is taken out of power, ideally through a revolt within his own country…
and I can’t imagine anyone wanting to pick on Canada – everyone there is so nice!
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Yes let’s hope for a resolution In the nicest way possible, said the Canadian with her fingers crossed.
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🙂
my fingers are crossed as well
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Well said and let’s hope that this ends soon and that US of A doesn’t ever invade Canada. For their sake. I know at least to elderly ladies that will stand in their way.
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We will take them all on with out kayak paddles.
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Haha, yes!
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I think the main reason countries aren’t really pulling out the stops against Russia is because no-one wants WW3 – and, after all, a World War was what it took to stop Hitler. But I truly feel for the Ukrainian people and I definitely don’t think Putin will stop there – he’s after many more countries and much more landgrabbing unfortunately.
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Uneasy times for sure. Who knows whether doing something now or postponing it till later with possibly a higher cost in the long run is the best course of action. All I know is if I was Ukrainian, I would be hoping for sooner.
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Egotistical, narcissistic bullies have no place as leaders and yet that’s what so many countries have. I pray this ends soon. Maggie
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Soon would be good for sure.
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What were we always taught? You’ve got to stand up to the bully, or he’ll just continue to push you around?
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Yes that’s what our generation was taught. These days it seems that walking away is the directive.
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As Jim B. suggests as a possibility, I think one of the few ways to permanently change the situation is if the citizens of Russia finally learn the truth about what is happening. (The Russian government lies to them constantly, as they have for decades, and many of them have no idea of what’s really going on.) If the truth gets out, on a massive scale, the citizens could very well revolt and the government could be overthrown. Putin will be insignificant without power. Sadly, one of the downsides of so many companies (especially news networks and social media platforms) pulling out of Russia as a protest is that there is very little truth now crossing the Russian border.
And I agree that it feels like “the world” is not doing enough. But as MountainCoward points out, nobody wants World War III. The apparent united front against Russia, right now, will start to dissipate if other nations get pulled into the conflict, with boots-on-the-ground becoming necessary. It’s messy, complicated, and very, very sad…
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Yes very complicated, messy and sad.
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My heart breaks every time I watch the news coming out of Ukraine. And it really bothers my once a Marine always a Marine husband. He keeps saying if he was 10 years younger he’d go over there and help. I’m thinking he’d need to be 25 years younger, but wisely keep my mouth shut. While I understand we don’t want WWIII, this unprovoked attack on civilians must be answered somehow. Economic sanctions will take their toll, but Ukraine may not have that much time left.
😰
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I agree and I think there are so many people like your husband who are feeling helpless and wish they could do something. It is hard to sit back and watch.
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This is such a disaster . So horrendous. Animals don’t battle with each ..they kill to eat. Other Nations are horrendous.
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Yes it is a sad situation. Humans can be so selfish.
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It is such a sad time seeing people fleeing and trying escape 😢 😞
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This war is heartbreaking. The worst part is that us, common people, bear the brunt of the world leaders’ actions.
But USA is no less of a bully. Today, the USA reprimanded India (I’m an Indian) for still buying Russian oil while all of Europe is still buying Russian oil. The German minister went as far as saying that banning Russian oil and gas will cause mass poverty in Germany. And yet, USA is trying to bully a “third world country”.
I honestly don’t know what the solution to bullying is. Very often when you bring down one bully, another bully just takes his/her place.
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I agree. One bully, especially on the world stage, will quickly be replaced by another one. As a Canadian, I live right next door to the US. I know how they like to get their own way. I am not always comfortable with their actions either.
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“My little bit pales by comparison.” Mine, too, but as for comparison, the only thing we have to compare is how much we have with how much we give enough to feel a sting. A million people giving little bits has to go a long way to buy food and diapers for people on the run or hiding in subways and basements. What we give them we give to humanity, so thank you.
“What if this power-hungry bully decides he wants what we have built up over the years.” The one that we did have (I live near the south side of your border), and horribly, may well get again (or similar) actually asked the Secretary of Defense about firing missiles into Mexico at the drug cartels. I am happy to say that we’ll never have a crisis of maple syrup depletion! (I think?)
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For everyone’s sake, Let’s hope that your previous bully doesn’t get in again. We really don’t need uncontrollable bullies running amok at the same time.
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