In 2008, US President George W. Bush wanted to invite Ukraine to join NATO. Unfortunately, German chancellor Angela Merkel and French president Nicolas Sarkozy were concerned about escalation.
After Russian forces attacked Ukraine in Crimea and Donbass in 2014, President Barack Obama was concerned about escalation and rejected supplying Ukraine with Javelin anti-tank missiles.
During the first month of the full-scale war in 2022, when the Russian army started failing in Ukraine, the Biden administration began to express concerns about potential escalation. As a result, they refused to provide Ukraine with powerful weapons, which could have led to the complete collapse of the Russian army in Ukraine and potentially forced it to retreat.
Currently, the same concern by the West enables the Russian government to avoid unbearable losses and facilitates the Russian army to control already occupied Ukrainian territory.
Furthermore, the West's concern cannot prevent Russia's ongoing slow progress.
Killing the world order
This concern about escalation not only undermines Ukrainian sovereignty, but it also undermines the current global order.
The West is repeating the same mistakes it made with Russia in the early years of the USSR and in the early years after its collapse.
The West largely viewed the 1917 Russian Red Revolution as a temporary phenomenon, anticipating the imminent collapse of the Bolshevik state.
American and Western companies helped the USSR build its industrial capacity
American and Western companies helped the USSR build its industrial capacity, regardless of the fact that it was increasing its global influence and continuously subverting other countries and nations.
It took 70 years for the USSR to collapse. Communist madness engulfed numerous countries and nations during those seven decades. Communism claimed the lives of millions of people.
As expected, the USSR collapse did not destroy Russia's desire to build a society that confronts the West. Soon after the collapse of the USSR, the new Russian leaders came up with another similarly aggressive anti-Western ideology.
Restraint in the face of aggression
America and the West have always avoided preventive measures and harsh responses.
Even after Russia meddled in American elections in 2016, American companies not only remained in Russia, but also those in the social media and entertainment business complied with Russia's repressive domestic measures against the Russian opposition movement, thereby aiding the Kremlin in suppressing opposition and freedom of speech.
American and Western companies remained in Russia throughout the years, although Russia was already invading other countries such as Moldova (1992) and Georgia (2008), and since the early 2000's it was openly building a new antagonistic network of despotic and corrupt countries that despise the West.
Russia may not be as strong militarily as expected, but it is outstanding at clandestine and soft power operations
Russia may not be as strong militarily as expected, but it is outstanding at clandestine and soft power operations.
Russia subverted and corrupted many Western alt-right and leftist political parties and movements. Russia is already present in Africa. It uses RT to spread its propaganda in many African and Latin American countries, as well as in India.
Russian intelligence agencies have a strong presence in Venezuela, Nicaragua, Cuba, and Mexico, right in America’s backyard.
Should we wait another 70 years?
All those previous and current concerns about escalation caused absolutely derailed and deviant Russia, which, similarly to the previous Communist state, is committed to breaking the existing system and imposing its own alternative authoritarian model of society in as many countries and nations as possible.
Russia's commitment to victory in Ukraine, Europe, Africa, and South America means that the world will continue to be more dangerous and could even face catastrophic nuclear consequences.
UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy's recent speech at the UN was sobering; like no other Western leader, he exposed the true nature of Russia as a mafia imperialist state
Like the USSR, contemporary Russia will continue to cause pain and suffering around the world until it can. It will not stop until it encounters a similar collapse.
This situation could persist for the next 70 years, or even longer, unless the West ceases to fear escalation and decides to put an end to this new Russia's insanity as soon as possible.
It is troubling to acknowledge that Putin's Russia, having learned a lesson from its previous defeat when the USSR collapsed, has made corrections and adjustments in its current global expansion approach, making it more attractive to different social groups around the globe.
Because of all this, UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy's recent speech at the UN was sobering; like no other Western leader, he exposed the true nature of Russia as a mafia imperialist state.
It is sufficient to start with the West treating Russia as it truly is and comprehending the nature of its "game" with the West. The right actions follow the right words.
