Putin attacks babies

When you read the words ‘A maternity ward and a children’s ward have been destroyed in a Russian air strike on a hospital in the southern city of Mariupol, officials there say’ on the BBC website, how did you feel? Shocked? Angry? Confused? Incredulous? Helpless? Clueless? Numb? All these words and more and they still don’t come close to describing how Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine is affecting our minds. Then, I see a picture of the devastation:

This is one of 18 Russian attacks on Ukrainian medical facilities. It renders absurd the idea that these attacks are somehow an accident, a badly aimed missile. It’s an evil, cynical and unforgivable attack on the very people who are least able to defend themselves. Pregnant women and babies, not to mention the doctors and nurses who are caring for them. These are war crimes on stilts. And what are we doing about it?

The answer to that is not enough. Boris Johnson’s government has been working in slow motion to clamp down on Russian oligarchs and dodgy Russian money. They’re not letting in desperate refugees, either, because Johnson thinks that they might be terrorists. You’ve got to have a visa otherwise you might get into the country and try to poison people in, say, Salisbury. But it goes much deeper than that. I’m beginning to wonder if this conflict could be existential, not just for a few but for everyone.

You know the real reason why we are not rushing to block Russian money. Boris Johnson and his grubby pals are up to their necks in it. And Johnson and his grubby pals are up to their necks in their dealings with Russia full stop. But the reason we are not doing enough to stop Putin’s murderous advance on Ukraine is simple: we are worried Putin will attack us with his vast array of nuclear weapons, with good reason. We daren’t impose a no-fly zone because we’d then be in the business of shooting down Russian planes and seeing our planes shot down, too. If we put boots on Ukrainian land, it was be a declaration of war. So we institute half-hearted sanctions and hope for the best. Meanwhile, Putin’s forces attack hospitals.

So, for our self-preservation, to maintain our way of life, we allow the tyrant to destroy Ukraine and its way of life. But here’s a thought: is our way of life worth anything if we don’t give a toss about anyone else’s?

Most of me knows that a nuclear conflict would destroy everything and everyone. But part of me thinks that there is surely a case for going much further with our military action in defence of Ukraine? I am not saying we nuke Moscow but let’s not rule out no-fly zones. And let’s rule in the possibility that NATO may need to take military action to defend fellow members if Putin decides to carry on marching once he has reduced Ukraine to rubble?

The pictures from Mariupol are some of the worst and most distressing I have ever seen. Indeed, many of the images from Ukraine can never be expunged from our collective memory. My big fear is that we haven’t seen anything yet. We are about to be visited by economic carnage, the like of which we have never seen. Inflation and rising fuel costs will be felt by all but the wealthiest. Even the comfortable middle classes will feel the pinch. Millions of families may go under.

A friend of mine summed it up very well when he said, “I think inflation is the least of our worries. The world is in an extremely dangerous situation.” All I can add to that is that much of the world doesn’t realise just how dangerous the situation is. Hearing the air raid sirens in Kyiv on the TV and radio was shocking enough. I’ve had it in the back of my mind that someday soon, those sirens could be blaring over Bristol. Who is to say it won’t happen?