The Finnish soldier was aware of the numerical odds against him, but he rendered those odds less terrible by cracking jokes: “They are so many, and our country is so small, where will we find room to bury them all?”.â William R. Trotter, A Frozen Hell: The Russo-Finnish Winter War of 1939-1940.The year is 2025..Finland is being attacked by Russian forces along its lengthy 800-mile border. .And this time they have a plan, they’ve improved their logistics and tactics, knowing full well, they will crush the small Nordic nation..After successive victories in Georgia, Ukraine and Moldova, President Vladimir Putin continues to intimidate the West with the fear of nuclear destruction..And the West meekly relented..Ukraine was conquered after being largely destroyed, killing thousands. .The US, the UK, NATO, and the world — some 90 nations — looked on and did nothing..The fighting in urban centres went on for days, causing mass destruction not seen since the Second World War..Timid sanctions following the Russian victories did nothing to stop the Mad Russian. .Russia adapted to these setbacks, with help from China’s Xi Jinping, and Putin’s push for the Russian Empire continues unabated..And now it is Finland’s turn..Russian forces opened up with aerial bombardments on Finland’s major cities — Helsinki, Espoo, Tampere and Vantaa. Thousands of innocent civilians were killed..Russian tanks, missile launchers and troops poured over the border..While the Finns are fighting bravely, as they did during the Russo-Finnish Winter War of 1939-1940, experts say it’s only a matter of time before Finland will be crushed..Finland’s squadrons of Lockheed-Martin F-35 fighter jets, its Leopard 2A6 battle tanks, armoured howitzers and new generation light anti-tank weapons were all being used to repel the attackers, and took heavy enemy casualties..Meanwhile, in Washington D.C., the sitting US president refused to place a no-fly-zone over Finland, allowing Russian Air Force Sukhoi Su-27 fighter jets to pound military and civilian targets..NATO too, is standing by, and doing nothing — afraid of Putin’s hand on the nuclear button, which boasts a stockpile of approximately 4,477 warheads..This also occurred in Ukraine, and would eventually help Putin’s Russian forces to take over the country. Sadly, when Kyiv fell, so did Ukraine. .And when Helsinki falls, so too, will the mighty Finns..Putin’s Russian forces are much smarter and emboldened by past victories, which have been glorified in their tightly controlled press..They are bombing schools, hospitals and apartment buildings, train stations and anything that moves, just as they were allowed to do in Ukraine..While Finnish forces are fighting bravely, and, NATO has sent troops into eastern European nations and a carrier force into the Baltic Sea, this did nothing to deter the Russian invaders..US and NATO posturing has so far achieved nothing, just as in Ukraine..Putin continues to play them like a fiddle..OK, time to take a breather and go get a coffee..That, my friends, is all fiction. None of it is true. It is the ghost of the future, much like Charles Dickens’ Christmas Carol..But it could very well happen..And if we don’t do something now to stop the Russians and this rogue leader, this is undoubtedly where we’re headed..Putin sees us as a Paper Tiger, and he may not be far from being right in that view..Who else are we going to throw under the bus to satisfy this monster?.Former Canadian military commander Rick Hillier has said it well — if we don’t stop him now, we will just have to face it later..According to Hillier, Putin “escalated” things, when he crossed the border..Do you want to wait until he fully establishes his dream of a Russo-Empire?.Hopefully, both Sweden and Finland will join NATO. But even then, will we, the West, respond to help Finland or Poland if they are attacked?.Do we have the stomach for a fight? Or have we become too weak?.Have our political leaders lost the once indomitable spirit, of Winston Churchill, Franklin D. Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy?.What is the red line? When do we respond? How much more evil horror must we witness before we act?.And is there any hope, whatsoever, for diplomacy? While I don’t think these actions by Putin are largely supported by the Russian people, can he be trusted?.This is a man who has been pursuing a violent and alarming expansionist trend for a decade, and was literally given a Get Out Of Jail card by then US president Barack Obama..In fact, Obama mocked then Gov. Mitt Romney in 2012, for saying that Russia was still “our number one geopolitical foe.”.“The 1980s are now calling to ask for their foreign policy back,” Obama quipped. .“The Cold War’s been over for 20 years. But governor, when it comes to our foreign policy, you seem to want to import the foreign policies of the 1980s, just like the social policies of the 1950s and the social policies of the 1920s.”.Today, Romney is saying, I was right and the Democrats were wrong..As civilians die in Ukraine as I write this, the Cold War is clearly far from over..As much as I hate to say it, the blood being shed in Ukraine is partially on Obama’s hands, along with any US president before or since, for the failure to reign in this lunatic..Then governor Romney of Massachusetts warned of Putin’s unpredictability and the tepid US and world response to the horrors that took place in Georgia and Crimea..If only someone had listened..Interviewed recently, Romney said the attack on Ukraine was “without justification, without provocation and without honour.”.The Republican senator called on the US and its allies to subject Russia to “the harshest economic penalties,” to expel the nation from global institutions, and to commit to “the expansion and modernization of our national defence.”.It is the very least we could do..Dave Makichuk is a Western Standard contributor. .PTacitus27@gmail.com
