Dear Editor,
My post-75 retirement, along with an all-consuming interest in world affairs, ensured that I remained transfixed at the Russian expansionist invasion of Ukraine. Since Putin mobilised his massive army of both hardened professional military soldiers, as well as their younger reluctant conscripted comrades more than one month ago, I’ve remained glued to my international television channels during the now nine-day invasion.
Is not Putin now the world’s number one international thug and terrorist? I know that our “run-of-the-mill” Al Qaeda, Boko Haram and ISIS terrorists present the same death sentences upon victims. But when a modern-day superpower president unleashes thermobaric – cluster and vacuum-bombs against Ukrainian civilians – women, children, the elderly – in the blitzkrieg to dislodge the spirited patriotic Ukrainian military, is not Putin more than akin to terrorists? He’s killing thousands of innocents for no good reason except his personal, exclusive disgust and envy regarding Ukraine’s traditional independence (and to think that thousands of Ukrainians constitute Europe’s second largest Russian – speaking neighbourly state!!)
As we Guyanese, thousands of miles away from Putin’s theatre of war, observe both Ukrainian horror and heroism, let us applaud the Ukrainian spirit of resistance against the ugly Russian bear, always bearing in mind that a Russian-friendly-allied Venezuela has its eye on our territory still. Two perhaps indirect but related points in closing: at least President Trump was wholly correct in promoting American energy security and independence as now Biden seems bound to still enable Putin’s existence by purchasing daily millions of dollars of Russian oil. But Putin’s current isolation has, ironically, brought Europe together as never before. (Incidentally, did you-all notice that the thousands of refugee Ukrainians still found time to discriminate against fleeing fellow refugee Africans? What a world!)
Sincerely,
Allan Arthur Fenty