“Cry 'Havoc!' and let slip the dogs of war
That this foul deed shall smell above the earth
With carrion men, groaning for burial”
----William Shakespeare, “Julius Caesar”.
A week ago Vladimir Putin, in a fever of deranged madness, ordered his troops to invade the sovereign state of Ukraine. Convinced of his infallibility, certain of the soundness of his judgment, fearless in the face of his opposition, and confident in a quick and easy conquest, the fascist leader of the Russian Federation launched his assault upon the peaceful Republic of Ukraine.
No one should have been surprised.
Putin has always displayed a certain messianic complex who, like Hitler, had early convinced himself that he is the great political leader that will restore the territorial conquests, if not the former glory, of the old Soviet Union. Like Hitler, grousing in a field hospital on the day of the Armistice, Putin, a midldling KGB officer stationed in East Germany when the Berlin Wall came down, swore revenge and reconstitution. And, like Hitler, he has gone about the business of trying to muscle the break-away republics back behind the 'iron curtain'.
Like Hitler, he will not succeed. And, if he pushes matters far enough, he will meet the same end with his nation and, perhaps the planet itself, in ruin.
Putin is turning 70 this year. Putin is getting old. Time is running out if he is to realize his grandiosity. To stand beside Catherine the Great, he must reconquer the lost provinces and he has little time left. Therefore, he will not digest Ukraine piecemeal. He will attempt to swallow it whole.
He said as much a few days before he launched his enterprise, declaring that Ukraine was a Russian invention and that, in effect, it had always been and will always be an integral part of Russia. Brazenly declaring, with no sense of irony, that Ukraine was being led by drug-crazed Neo-Nazis, he protested to the world that Russia not only has legitimate claim to the territory but that it had the moral responsibility to eradicate this evil.
Like our Caesar Disgustus, Putin is here projecting his own evil intentions upon those who stand in opposition. For it is Putin, among those presently standing upon the world stage that best resembles Hitler, who rattles his sabres and threatens the world with all out nuclear war if any nation deign interfere.
There are reasons why the people of Ukraine are standing as one behind their leader. Rule through fear requires terror. Kelenzkyy is a former comedian and actor. He has a sense of humor. Putin, like Hitler, Mussolini and tRUMP, are never seen laughing in public; never give a speech in conversational tone; never see the humor in their own conduct. There is something menacing about a man whose ego is so fragile that he cannot, even upon occasion, be brought to laugh. There is something terrifying about a man whose ego is so fragile that he cannot, even upon occasion be brought laugh at himself.
Voloddymyr Zelenskyy is a comedian turned politician, Ukraine's Al Franken transformed by war into Ukraine's Winston Churchill. While Putin reigns through terror, ensconced upon his golden throne lording over his people. Zelensky, moving among them is one with his people. While Russian ministers and oligarchs tremble, like scarecrows and cowardly lions, before the almighty Oz, Zelenskyy is greeted with smiles, love and admiration. Zelenskyy will emerge from this conflict a national hero, loved, respected and admired; Putin, a crypto-Nazi will, like Hitler and Stalin, leave a legacy of fear and loathing. Ukraine will raise monuments to it's leaders and the cause. Russians will learn to rue their infatuations with Putin and will tear down his monuments and attempt to erase his memory.
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