Until Nato scares Putin as well as scares us, there will be no peace in Europe

As for the mother, realizing she was about to lose her baby, paramedics said she shouted: “Kill me now.” They were unable to save her and “more than 30 minutes of resuscitation for the mother was unsuccessful”.

And so the world has another war crime, and another symbolism – a fitting word in this case – the image of war and its civilian casualties. These images are ingrained in our collective consciousness, and they often depict women. The most scandalous is still “Napalm Girl” (1972) – Phan Tha »& # 139; Kim Phuc, then, was a nine-year-old boy, topless fleeing the street after suffering severe burns on his back from a napalm attack during the Vietnam War.

The portrait of an Afghan refugee girl, Sharbat Bibi, whose striking cobalt eyes appeared on the cover of National Geographic in 1984, is also instantly recognizable. The eerie image of an Iraqi civilian, hooded and arms outstretched as if in a medieval painting. Ali Shallal al-Qaisi has a photo of him taken by one of the US troops who tortured him and others in the notorious Abu Ghraib prison. All of these victims survived their ordeals: the mother-to-be and her child in Ukraine did not.

No doubt the great leaders of the West like Joe Biden, Justin Trudeau and Emmanuel Macron will be as annoyed as any of us at the sight of any horrifying images and videos of violence emanating from Ukraine. In an age of smartphones, CCTV and satellite cameras, no war is as comprehensively documented as Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

The war crimes they illustrate appeal to most people to condemn, despite the fact that Russians often view them as fake news or orchestrated by Ukrainians. If one believes Putin and Lavrov, the woman and child fleeing shelling on homes and hospitals in Ukraine are either actors or neo-Nazi rebels. The civilized world, and indeed many Russians with access to the truth, do not believe these ridiculous lies.

The crux of that barbaric image of the pregnant woman in Mariupol, however, is that there is no atrocity that Putin and his generals can commit in Ukraine that will provoke Western intervention. West. Not available.

Honestly, Putin is free to slaughter as many Ukrainians as he wants, raze as many cities to the ground, use chemical weapons, nuclear weapons on the battlefield, oversee the total destruction cultural, architectural and artistic treasures, and leave Ukraine, the breadbasket of the world, like an irradiated pile of rubble, a giant Chernobyl.

Putin can destroy everything: Nato will do nothing. We know this – and Putin knows it too. We know this because Western leaders openly admit as much. There are bound to be consequences, more sanctions and more references to war crimes courts, more diplomatic isolation – but Western leaders say NATO is a defensive alliance, Ukraine is not. is a member state, and intervention would result in a global nuclear explosion. I doubt it, but we seem destined to live in fear of Putin.

Meanwhile, we seem to be saying that a Ukrainian life is worth less than that of a Pole or a Lithuanian, for example, across an arbitrary moral border. That’s Nato’s cowardice, and Putin can see it. Possibly borrowed from a powerful speech by Tony Benn: “Aren’t Ukrainians terrified? Don’t Ukrainian women cry when their children die? Will bombing strengthen their resolve? How foolish that we live in a generation where war is a computer game for our children and just a fun little channel for news items. “

As the Ukrainians tried to explain to us, a Third World War came. Putin doesn’t care much about sanctions. He knows he can count on China, India, and others to back his regime if needed, sell him weapons, and keep trading. It is clear that the Syrians and Belarusians will send troops to support the campaign – not a sign that the war is going well for Russia, but a sign that Putin has people to help him fight back. a war of aggression and help break the sanctions.

Something close to genocide will likely overwhelm Ukraine in the coming days, but there will be no no-fly zones, no protected humanitarian corridors, and only limited military assistance in place. in response to President Zelensky’s plea for help.

Of course, we are invited to believe that if a Russian soldier tiptoes to Estonia or Poland, all of Nato’s fury will be directed at Russia. However, you have to wonder, how true that is, based on recent experience. If a stray Russian missile or shell “accidentally” landed in Poland, would Biden order punitive retaliation? If there was a “invasion” of Russian militias into Estonia, would Boris Johnson order British troops to fire on them? Will Olaf Scholz send German forces east and go to war for the first time since World War II, with all the new injuries implied?

If Putin’s fear of nuclear weapons stops us from attacking and stopping Putin now in Ukraine, why shouldn’t it stop us from attacking him and stopping him in the future in Estonia? Until Nato frightens Putin as well as makes us afraid, there will be no peace in Europe, and there will be many images of war that haunt our consciences.