Faced with Putin, the most cruel of dilemmas

Rarely have we felt so helpless.

Two weeks after the start of the war in Ukraine, we are told every day about the atrocities committed in this country, victim of Vladimir Putin’s war delirium.

Here on Wednesday, a children’s hospital was bombed in the south-east of the country. Barbarism knows no bounds.

We are also told, almost every day, of the wishes of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. He urges us to do more to help his people.

However, the Western powers essentially stick to arms deliveries to Ukraine and sanctions against Russia. It is commendable. Just like the firmness displayed against Putin since the start of the conflict.

But many feel that this is not enough.

Allow us to paraphrase Winston Churchill about this strategy: it is currently the worst… except all the others.

Because it is not out of cowardice that the Western powers do not intervene militarily to counter the offensive of the Russian regime.

Nor is it evidence of weakness.

It is that such a remedy, under the circumstances, could turn out to be worse than the disease. It could even lead to a Third World War.

That is to say, lead to a conflict that would see the United States, Europe, Canada and their many allies confront a nuclear power, led by a despot who seems ready to do anything to achieve his ends.

Obviously, the consequences of such a war could be even more horrific than what is happening in Ukraine.

It is in the light of this observation that we can understand why we do not even dare to set up a no-fly zone over Ukraine, as President Zelensky demands.

To enforce it, the NATO countries would have to start shooting down Russian planes. How not to think, then, that Vladimir Putin would take advantage of this to extend the conflict to the rest of Europe?

In light of this observation, we can also better explain the waltz-hesitation underway this week regarding the delivery of combat aircraft to Ukraine.

Poland was ready to ship Mig-29s to the US base in Ramstein, Germany, but Washington quickly refused. Fighter planes taking off from this base to attack Russian forces is not “viable”, according to the Pentagon.

But the fact remains that a way will have to be found to prevent Ukraine from completely losing control of the skies to the hands of Russian forces. There are not 36 solutions. And offering the Ukrainian regime fighter jets is one of them, as is helping to strengthen its anti-aircraft defense systems.

Let us specify that the refusal to confront Moscow today does not mean that tomorrow this position will still be legitimate.

It is very possible that Vladimir Putin, drunk on power, will push his offensive beyond the borders of Ukraine. Let him cross, with the arrogance that we know from him, the red line drawn by the members of NATO and the countries of the European Union.

The nature of the evil would then be quite different.

And strong intervention from Western countries could be seen as an appropriate remedy.

But for now, the current strategy, the one supported by Canada, is justified, even if it is necessarily very imperfect.

“We are humans and it is your humanitarian duty to protect us,” the Ukrainian president recently declared.

Ours is a cruel dilemma in the face of the horror of this war.

We seem to lack humanity today…in the hope of saving humanity.