Someone asked me the other day, where is Winston Churchill when we need him? Sadly, he is not available, but his prototype may well be emerging in the person of Volodymyr Zelenskyy, president of Ukraine. That is if he can manage to survive over the next week or two. Either way, he is on the road to becoming a war hero or a martyr for his country.
Several years ago, when Zelenskyy was elected president of Ukraine, many people on the international stage laughed. After all, his most prominent credential was as a professional comedian. He was not expected to be a strong leader.
But many of those same movers and shakers are eating those words today as the Ukrainian president and his people stand virtually alone against one of the world’s superpowers, led by an apparent psychopath who seems ready and willing to risk a global confrontation in order to get what he wants.
We saw a bit of Zelenskyy’s mettle a few years ago when he refused to be bullied by then-president Donald Trump. But now, in a David and Goliath confrontation with Russia, there can be no doubt that this man is a courageous leader and, like the citizens of the country he leads, certainly no pushover. Zelenskyy’s response to an offer by the United States to get him out of Ukraine, will go down in history: “I need ammunition,” he proclaimed, “not a ride.”
Today, Putin has offered to enter into negotiations with Ukraine, but they are a farce and an excuse for further intervention. As Bob Rae, Canada’s ambassador to the United States has said, “A serious offer of a negotiation would start with a ceasefire, and an agreement to meet in a third country, not in a puppet state that has been taken over by the Russian army. Negotiators would have no security or safety. Russians are not serious.”
Astonishingly though, based on news reports today, it appears that Ukraine has agreed to these talks with Russia without any preconditions, including a ceasefire. There are indications that the Ukraine president will meet with the president of Russian-controlled Belarus at their mutual borders. One can only hope that in agreeing to these talks (assuming he has), Volodymyr Zelenskyy knows something the rest of the world does not, because the chances of Putin negotiating in good faith or backing down without a clear win are slim to none.
In fact, it is hard to see a peaceful ending to this unprovoked war. Tensions world-wide are running as high as they have in decades. And on the very day Putin proposes “negotiations” with Ukraine, he also puts Russia’s nuclear-deterrent forces on full alert. He is threatening the entire world.
And how is the world reacting? Well, that’s a mixed bag and a high-wire act. No one wants to give Putin any excuse to start a nuclear war. On the other hand, they stand up to him now, or they face an emboldened Putin later.
Routine sanctions will not be an effective deterrent, especially the freezing of personal assets. Putin and his cronies would have known this would be coming weeks ago and protected themselves to the degree possible.
Other sanctions, however, may be more effective. Many of us who are not experts in the financial field would not be familiar with SWIFT. It is the main global payments system used by banks to make cross-border money transfers. Today, most Western countries including those in the European Union, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Canada have agreed to effectively expel Russia from SWIFT which could have a catastrophic effect on their internal banking systems. There are, however, risks to this as it may push Russia closer to an arrangement with China to circumvent this expulsion.
China of course is watching events in the Ukraine with keen interest and seeing a possible advantage in Russia’s Ukraine invasion. If Putin succeeds in unilaterally annexing Ukraine, will that embolden them to fulfill their claim for Taiwan? Of course, they are being typically “Chinese” at the moment. On the one hand they recognize Ukraine’s sovereignty, and on the other the right of Russia to protect their security.
But make no mistake, as stated recently in POLITICO, “The Chinese government has made clear that it will remain a strategic ally of Russia despite President Vladimir Putin being viewed globally as the aggressor in the war.”
The bottom line is this. Vladimir Putin, and he alone, has begun a formal process of unilateral aggression that has the real potential of threatening global peace. There are many similarities to what is happening now and what took place immediately prior to World War Two. The huge and frightening difference is the type of sophisticated weaponry that is now available and was, generally, not then.
The United Nations, not surprisingly, is impotent when it comes to keeping peace. Never was that more apparent than this past week when Russia was able to veto a motion approved by the majority of the Security Council to condemn the invasion of Ukraine. If there is not a mechanism to kick a clear aggressor, especially one with a veto, out of the Security Council, there certainly should be.
So, what now? Hopefully a united NATO, aggressive diplomacy, and critical sanctions will work. We have been on the brink of war before, and it has been avoided. But there is a tremendous challenge to world order right now that must be addressed.
Who then is going to step forward to do just that? The answer to that question is critical to our future.
We are sitting on a tinderbox here.
Hugh Mackenzie
Hugh Mackenzie has held elected office as a trustee on the Muskoka Board of Education, a Huntsville councillor, a District councillor, and mayor of Huntsville. He has also served as chairman of the District Muskoka and as chief of staff to former premier of Ontario, Frank Miller.
Hugh has served on a number of provincial, federal and local boards, including chair of the Ontario Health Disciplines Board, vice-chair of the Ontario Family Health Network, vice-chair of the Ontario Election Finance Commission, and board member of Roy Thomson Hall, the National Theatre School of Canada, and the Anglican Church of Canada. Locally, he has served as president of the Huntsville Rotary Club, chair of Huntsville District Memorial Hospital, chair of the Huntsville Hospital Foundation, president of Huntsville Festival of the Arts, and board member of Community Living Huntsville.
In business, Hugh Mackenzie has a background in radio and newspaper publishing. He was also a founding partner and CEO of Enterprise Canada, a national public affairs and strategic communications firm established in 1986.
Currently, Hugh is president of C3 Digital Media Inc., the parent company of Doppler Online, and he enjoys writing commentary for Huntsville Doppler.
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I am a former member of the Canadian Armed Forces and a retired Police officer and an old man.
As far as the Russian attack on Ukraine. Canada has done a lot to assist the Ukrainian people in their fight for FREEDOM. There is no doubt however the free countries including NATO has been hesitant to agree to Ukraine’s request to close the air space over their country. Their rational I understand but I suspect the same folks used the same thought process about Crimea. From the first day Putin sent the troops in, he has been leading NATO and the West around by the nose. I believe I may have a solution for this.
All of the NATO leaders when they meet next week, in consultation with the other EU members can do the following.
1. Tell Putin Directly he MUST cease fire within 8 hours..
2. Tell Putin if he fails to cease fire immediately it will be considered that he plans to continue with his devastating bombing and humanitarian crimes in Ukraine. In this event the World including NATO will close Ukraine’s Air space and consider and incursions be Russian will be dealt immediately.
I would likke to spend some time on the invasion of Crimea as will but will stop here for now.
Susan, I got quite a chuckle from your comment, “Putin is as nutty as the CC daydreamers…” I don’t know who the CC daydreamers are but that probably is a very generous and kind comment in comparison with my opinion of Putin. Dangerous. He is that. I still maintain that his eyes are void of compassion/kindness. I wonder why?
Hugh Holland your logic is impeccable; thank you for that! I do wish we could rally more of that instead of having to continually listen to the biased climate-change naysayers. What are they not getting? The term “confirmation bias” comes to mind. How does one argue someone out of THAT? Yes, Allen Markle, we sure did segue but to get back on point, Putin is as nutty as the CC daydreamers and even more dangerous. Good op-ed Hugh!
It seemed to me that the comment offered by Hugh Mackenzie was referring to the tragedy unfolding in the Ukraine, but the responses seemed to segue to oil and global warming. My observation. I find it difficult to watch or hear the reporting. We are cowed by a threat, but the people of the Ukraine are subjected to devastation. A monster is loose in their world.
Do we suppose that they care right now about oil, as their existence is ripped apart?
We assure them that we stand with them and will freeze the assets of Putin and his oligarchs! Mostly, I’m sure they would request safe haven, or for some. a rocket launcher.
The oil is a major source of global warming but I doubt that those fleeing, or fighting and dying, are even cognizant of that fact. It certainly isn’t paramount in their present.
Maybe they can draw strength from the fact that western governments will allow multi-nationals to up the price of oil and gas; safely away from where bullets fly and no building explodes!!! Madness.
This is our world at present, where only the tyrants act decisively. We will have to stand at some point, no matter the risk and that is frightening. That, or we will all come to realize the veracity of Dante’s phrase of “Abandon all hope, ye who enter here.”
I’m sure the Ukrainian fighters and families feel that they now stand at the gates of hell.
,
In resonse to Duncan Day’s question – Why should Canada worry about emissions when we produce only 1.6% of global emissions? Together, the 6 major countries with emissions more than Canada’s 1.6% share make 60% of global emissions, and the 186 countries below Canada’s 1.6% make 40% of global emissions.
But our PER CAPITA EMISSIONS are the highest among the 6 biggest emitters and are 3 times China. If any country isn’t willing to do their fair share, all 193 countries could rightly ask why they should do their share, and the world will face a climate catastrophe. So, it’s a matter of survival. And we have plenty of opportunities to do our share.
Ms. Kear.
I just did some checking and according to Stats Canada reporting on global warming, Canada is responsible for 1.5% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions and ranks well down the list even behind countries like Iran while China (26%)and the USA (16%), Russia (12%) followed by India (11%) are the big contributors. So, for Canadians to be punished by the (Liberal) Government of Canada with excessive carbon taxes seems more like a convenient tax grab, than a solution to the real problem and the real culprits. No doubt climate change is an issue we all need to be aware of and to address but wouldn’t it be wiser and more prudent to stop punishing Canadian citizens and tax payers and to go after the real culprits? Canada cannot solve this problem unilaterally and Canada is clearly not among the worst offenders.
Jim Boyes – We must walk and chew gum at the same time. Failed pipeline proposals are not always the fault of government. Enbridge simply had some better opportunities and ideas than their competitor Trans-Canada. The reversal of Enbridge Line 9 was a much quicker and less disruptive and vastly less expensive alternative to TC Energy East and enables Alberta oil to get to Quebec. The Atlantic provinces have their own oil. The modernization and expansion of Enbridge Line 3 entered service on Oct 21, 2021 and was a less disruptive alternative to TC Keystone XL for access to the US, and it also boosts capacity for eastern Canada. Construction on the Kinder -Morgan Trans Mountain pipeline to the west coast and Pacific markets was delayed by last fall’s severe flooding in BC, but will be finished in early 2023 instead of late 2022.
At the same time, last years record of severe weather events around the world, including Canada, show that we must increase our efforts to mitigate the probability of catastrophic climate change. Yesterday’s report from the world’s leading climate scientists said that risk is even more severe that previously reported.
The only important leader that is not trying to walk and chew gum at the same time is Putin. To satisfy his own perverted ego, he is rolling the dice on the future of his people. That will not end well for him.
Mr. Boyes; “climate rubbish”? Really, where have you been? Clearly massive Canadian floods, fires, and melting ice in the north have escaped your notice.
A Ukrainian soldier sacrificed himself by manually detonating mines on a bridge; to stop Russian tanks from advancing. He was fighting for his country’s democracy.
Joe Biden asked Volodymyr Zelensky if he wanted the USA to fly him out of Ukraine and to safety. Zelensky, Prime Minister of Ukraine, replied that he didn’t need a ride, but that they needed ammunition. With which to defend their democracy.
Irrespective of how all this plays out, these are brave men.
Here in our democracy, we announce we will freeze the assets of the troll Putin and his oligarch yes-men. Seize their money!!! I suppose after this is over, however it may end, our country of laws will give it all back and all will be forgiven! It should be made known that they will get back not one dollar, ruble, yen or ounce of gold.
Our government is even reticent about giving weapons to a prime minister and a people and a democracy, like ours, who have no choice but to stand and fight.
If the Ukraine is lost, then those mad men have shown that our ‘democracies’ can be taken, one at a time. Putin will be 1,250 km. closer to all of us.
The Ukrainians and Prime Minister Zelensky, needs guns and bullets and missiles with which to fight!
For the sake of us all, send the weapons to those brave men.
Google, “War in Donbas” to give more historical view on how this aggression came to be.
This entire thing brings into sharp focus the utter folly that western nations have been living for the past 10 ifnot 15 years.
While the snake Putin and the crafty Chinese ha e been glad handing gullible western politicians they have been bolstering their military capabilities 24 hours per day.
All the while we in the west have been embracing woke idealism and other useless and destructive (to our societies) ideas.
Now we are realizing that all the climate rubbish we have been wasting time and attention on has actually diverted our attention from the far more urgent issues developing around us.
Now, in hindsight, Canadians realize that we should have gotten our pipelinesboth east and west built and we should now be supplying oilandgasto needy markets. Hindsight is said to be 20 20. I hope to God it is and that Canadians will wake up and elect a government that will abolish all the idealistic, woke frivolous garbage and get with .reality.
Canada is presently a joke. This needs to change!