Russia's invasion and destruction of Ukraine is a wakeup call to the west. The west needs to seize this an an opportunity to improve the world and to fill the many voids in leadership which have been plaguing us for decades.
We have made a start, but it is not enough.
The sanctions and embargoes against Russia need to be complete and all-out, no timelines, no wiggle room. All transactions and movements of goods need to halt forthwith. Yes, even medical supplies.
No talk of "phasing out". Stop it now, even if not having the items will bring massive discomfort. Europe has been warned, and has known, for years and years not to be reliant on their oil and gas, now Europe must live with their inaction. By stopping energy imports now instead of next winter, the drive to find replacements will be much more intense, urgent and successful. Now is the time that Russia needs to be hindered the most, not next year.
Talk of "additional sanctions", should not be possible. The embargoes should be 100% and across the board.
At some stage, there will be talk of easing sanctions, so let's start talking about what the conditions need to be.
Here is what I propose should be the absolute minimum conditions:
- Regime change in Moscow. Putin and his cronies are no longer acceptable in any way or form. They will be busy with their war crimes trials anyway. There will have to be a transition government put in place.
- Removal of all veto powers at the UN.
- Removal from UN security council.
- Complete withdrawal of all troops from Ukraine.
- Agreement for reparations to 100% rebuild Ukraine. This will take some time.
- Complete decommissioning of all Russian nuclear weapons and support systems.
- Implementation of an education program for Russian citizens who have been shielded from the reality of what the Russian government has done. This may entail tours to Ukraine to see the destruction for themselves, graphic video, etc.
The western powers also need to do some serious introspection. We need to move beyond the blatant hypocrisy and double talk of politics that has become normalized in our societies. Money and corruption need to be removed from the politics of so called democratic countries.
The UK and USA democracies are an absolute farce. The mess in Ukraine is a direct result of inept and corrupt politics in the west that have not heeded the long list of blatant Russian aggression over decades. We need to fill the leadership vacuum that we have in the west with strong, principled leaders.
The world has now witnessed what makes a good leader, we need to find more people like Volodymyr Zelenskyy, elect them and support them.