THE SECOND MISTAKE

In politics and in the real world, it is known that mistakes are paid at a high price. The EU was dead wrong in taking for granted Putin's claim that he would not attack Ukraine. The Europeans believed it. The US, on the other hand, warned that Russian forces would invade the neighboring country "in a matter of weeks, days or hours." And the Europeans tended to ridicule this statement, accusing the president, Joe Biden, of alarmism. But it was Biden who told the truth in the end.

In the weeks preceding the aggression, the EU and the US had the opportunity to rearm the Ukrainian army, supplying it with large quantities of surface-to-air missiles (Stinger) and anti-tank missiles (Javelin). They were able to move Poland's MIG-29 planes to Ukrainian bases that had not yet been attacked. The US was even able to install Patriot anti-missiles in the west of the country that was going to be invaded.
None of this was done before the invasion.

The second error has been even more dramatic, if possible. True, this stems from the first mistake, but the great tragedy has been the systematic bombing of Ukrainian cities and towns; more than 2,100 civilians killed in Mariupol alone, bombed with terrible cruelty; hundreds of children destroyed by the bombs; cities turned to rubble; close to 3 million refugees in neighboring countries. A sea of blood and tears caused by the new Hitler, the new Stalin of Russia. Russia's military strength is far superior to Ukraine's; therefore an exit that does not meet Russia's demands seems unlikely. If the negotiations between the two parties converge, Ukraine will lose other parts of its territory, it will be militarily neutralized and it will remain subject to the neighboring monster.

Putin played hardball by betting on NATO's passivity, leaving him free to destroy Ukraine. And it is quite possible that the Russian dictator's nuclear threat would have lasted as long as the US would have put its nuclear forces on alert. A conventional war would have broken out, without either of them pressing the red button. That is why, in that poker game, it has been NATO that has not been able to accept the challenge.

Manuel Ostos