Vladimir Putin has achieved much more than he bargained for by declaring war on Ukraine.
And I don’t just mean the courageous opposition from a proud people.
With his barbarism he has single-handedly united most of Europe and strengthened NATO’s resolve.
He has reawakened American understanding that Russia is a serious danger.
He has probably stalled Net Zero and the green movement for the immediate future, amid pressure to increase domestic gas supplies.
And he has ensured any future Scottish independence referendum is now even more distant and unlikely than it already was.
He may even have saved Boris Johnson as Prime Minister, since ditching him now would be seen as dangerous self indulgence by the Tories in the middle of a world crisis.
Johnson can do much more to help Ukrainian refugees and a lot more to tackle the wealth of the Oligarchs in London.
But his quick provision of arms to aid those resisting the invasion won praise from the Ukrainians, confounding those desperate to claim the UK is only a bit part player on the world stage.
Russia invasion raises questions of life and death
Putin has also made many of us in the West ask deeply searching questions of ourselves.
One I’ve asked of myself is, in what circumstances would I be prepared to kill?
What might seem like a theoretical student debating society point is now a very real dilemma for the people of the Ukraine.
I’m not a pacifist. I firmly believe in the use of just force to subdue the deranged and dangerous like Putin who would murder and maim with impunity.
Everyone will have different definitions of just force and when it’s acceptable.
But the embattled people of the Ukraine probably can’t afford the philosophical luxury of discussing such niceties with their lives and freedom in imminent peril.
I once interviewed a conscientious objector who had refused to fight in the Second World War.
He was a very nice and rather reserved man.
When I asked him what he would have done if Hitler had won the war and the Nazis had occupied us, he fell silent.
Ukraine 🇺🇦 poignantly the statue of Christ is removed from Lviv’s Armenian Cathedral and put in a bomb shelter. Older people in Lviv recalled the last time the statue had to be protected from bombshell was during the Second World War pic.twitter.com/fn6wva5kk9
— Lord (David) Alton (@DavidAltonHL) March 6, 2022
I respected his view that he didn’t want to and couldn’t bring himself to take another human life.
But ultimately I don’t share it.
In the final analysis some things are worth fighting for, as the Ukrainians are showing.
Would you fight for your country? Or someone else’s?
For those of us in societies which are not at war, who can call on the police if violence threatens us, it’s difficult to understand the courage required of folk in Ukraine facing a Russian army and their tanks and missiles.
The pictures from the invasion are harrowing.
It’s hard to believe such carnage is taking place in Kyiv, just three hours and 10 minutes flying time from London.
And the invasion has posed many questions which in this country we’ve not had to think too deeply about until now.
Would you fight for your country?
Should we support NATO in creating a no-fly zone with the potential risks of nuclear Armageddon?
Should we, like the Ukrainians, unilaterally give up our nuclear weapons?
And would you be prepared to see your daughters and sons go to war to assist Ukraine?
So much for toxic masculinity
After the horrors of the ethnic war in Bosnia we hoped we’d never again see such scenes on the European continent.
But here they are being beamed into our living rooms like some brutally detached video game.
Zelensky's new statement:
– #Sumy was hit by air bombs. A child was killed in #Mariupol. Ukraine has been fighting for 13 days.
– #Russia has not lost as many aircraft in the past 30 years as it did in 13 days in #Ukraine. pic.twitter.com/HjMg14WnM5
— NEXTA (@nexta_tv) March 8, 2022
In recent times some activists in our society have painted men with the broad brush of ‘toxic masculinity’.
That description, which was deeply misguided and insulting, now comes under severe scrutiny with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyi providing a model of stalwart courage and leadership which represents the best of the male species.
Meanwhile many folk previously regarded as peacemakers cheer those in Ukrainian cities using Molotov cocktails.
Calls for vengeance have been heard in unlikely places as the brutal realities of war intrude violently on our complacency.
Invasion of Ukraine is a warning to us all
The conflict has also provided an opportunity for some on the left of British politics to parade their confusion.
Many still seem to harbour a misguided belief that Russia is at heart a communist country fighting the socialist fight, when in reality it’s a gangster state, where democracy and the people are under a jackboot.
Its behaviour is, in fact, the very “Imperialism” which most of the left has spent decades criticising.
The Russian invasion of its neighbour has shocked and repelled in equal measure.
It’s also woken up all but the most blissfully naive to the fact the world is a dark and dangerous place, where wishful thinking and prayers for peace won’t deter despots who place negligible value on human life.
The grim situation in Ukraine has woken many of us from our indolent slumber.
Whatever happens next, we can never be as carelessly inattentive to our security again.
