We are at war. The Ukrainian people are being brutalized by Russia and its crazed megalomaniac leader..Ukrainian heroics and western armaments may have held the occupiers at bay. But Russia will never give up. It can’t. It has become existential for Putin and therefore, his Russia. Anyone who replaces Putin will, realistically, likely be worse..History may not always repeat itself, but there are inevitable parallels..Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014 duplicated Hitler’s taking of the Sudetenland. Both tyrants were appeased. Both were emboldened..Putin’s invading army carried their parade uniforms thinking it would match Hitler’s Anschluss in Austria. Instead, it paralleled the Nazi invasion of Poland. Ukraine fought back and NATO rallied around it. Led by the United States, the west has all but declared war by arming and supporting the Ukraine. The inept Russian army has faltered and lost land it once occupied. But, Putin, like Hitler, will not stop..Putin is willing to squander his nation’s wealth and as many men as is necessary to complete his maniacal ambition. He’ll march evermore zombified peons to perish in Ukrainian mud. He’ll sell oil, gas, potash and other resources to the west and use the money to refit his army and replenish his bombs. He won't stop. Should Ukraine push the occupiers out now, they’ll return. They will always return. Then, when that job is done, the little green men, Russia’s concealed forward army, will appear in Estonia, Latvia and Kazakhstan..Current times are analogous to the “phoney war” period of 1940. France and Britain had declared war on Germany, but did nothing. Hitler was vulnerable, but the allies gave him the time to fortify his army. Eventually, it had sufficient strength to invade France and overwhelm the allies. Appeasement doesn’t work. “Do nothing ,” doesn’t work. The future price of both is enormous..However, this war also diverges from World War 2. There will be no invasion of Russia, no unconditional surrender, no war crime tribunals, no Marshall plan to build an ally. Russia and the empire that it’s rebuilding, will long be our adversaries. Human rights and the environment will suffer immeasurably..The west must unify and embargo Russia! Stop giving it our money to kill Ukrainians! After that, we must embargo all nations that support tyranny. All nations must contribute however they can.. Trudeau and german chancellorIn August, German Chancellor Olaf Scholtz pleaded with Prime Minister Trudeau to relieve his country's dependence on Russian natural gas by opening uo supplies of western Canadian gas. (Historically, Germany drew one third of its gas from Russia via pipeline. Trudeau brushed him off, saying there was 'no business case' to do so. Germany has since opened an LNG dock and signed a supply contract with Qatar. .The prairie provinces have the resources that the world currently buys from Russia. Alberta has the largest oil reserves of any democratic nation and massive gas reserves. Saskatchewan has the world largest potash deposits (followed by Russia and Belarus) and the best uranium. Manitoba has immense hydro-electric potential and an export route to the Atlantic through Hudson Bay. We have an obligation to avail our resources to save the world; we can’t repeat the mistakes of the last century. The Second World War's 80 million lost souls attest to the cost of a timid response..However, Trudeau won’t embargo Russia, he embargoes Alberta. He snubs his nose at leaders from Germany and Japan who have come begging for a share our hydrocarbon riches. Jagmeet Singh and the NDP fully support Trudeau’s arrogant and condescending lecturing of allies. Now, premiers of the prairie provinces are starting to exert their mandate to be custodians of our resources and push back on Singh-Trudeau who are clearly overreaching their constitutional boundaries..During the Cold War, there was a term for naïve people who unwittingly helped Russia: ‘Useful idiots”. Provincial NDP’s now have a choice: Reverse themselves and support the premiers or remain compliant with their comrades, the “Useful Idiots” in Ottawa..Last century, people of the prairies massively and disproportionately volunteered to fight for freedom and democracy..One must expect that this history will repeat itself.
