Putin, end this nightmare. For the past week, the so-called “military exercise” has shown it is nothing of the sort. It is a march of destruction and death. There is no propaganda that can excuse the inhumanity that has become the fate of the people of Ukraine.
With diplomacy stalled or forgotten, and international sanctions weighing down upon the people of Russia, one could hope that the insanity would end. But we have seen this before. History has shown us far too many leaders willing to self-destruct – and take countless innocents with them.
We have seen the madmen lead and we have seen human beings follow. We have normalized this behavior while we pray for peace. We pray for peace, but we do not insist on peace. We want war to end, but we continue to allow militarism to dominate us.
Make no mistake, I believe Putin is wrong and I am not sure sanctions will stop him. I weep for the people who are becoming refugees and for those who are being killed. I fear for the Russian people as the economic squeeze tightens as well as the persecution they will face as they dissent. And I am convinced that the financial shock waves will surely hit Europe and the rest of the world, intensifying conflicts everywhere.
It seems humanity has reached its midnight hour. We can no longer hide behind despotic leadership and claim innocence. We must become thinking people who are not willing to sacrifice our humanity for the empire.
When I heard Trump call Putin’s aggression “genius” and heard no cries of fowl from his party, I was not surprised. Trump is not a friend of peace. Trump is a friend of greed and power. And his followers are devotees of the same.
let kindness win 
The victims of one place and time can and sometimes do become the victimizers of another place and time. …
I once heard a philosophy professor say that all people should avoid believing, let alone claiming, they are incapable of committing an atrocity, even if relentlessly pushed.
Contrary to what is claimed or felt by many of us, he said, deep down there’s a tyrant in each of us that, under the just-right circumstances, can be unleashed. And maybe even more so when convinced that ‘God is on our side’.
____
P.S. Putin likely still sees Trump for the grinning goof he is. Meanwhile, journalists should ask Trump what Putin’s used bathwater tastes like.
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Yes, we all have the capability of being tyrannical. But we also have the choice not to be. We need more professors talking about that. Best wishes, Dena
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