On Thursday, February 24, 2022, what the international community feared and has been avoiding with the use of diplomacy happened.
This is the day, the leader of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin, ordered his troops to march into and invade a sovereign nation; Ukraine.
Like many of the invasions since the end of the cold war, among the reasons is that, Russia, has the knowledge that, Ukraine, has the desire to produce weapons of mass destruction.
Another reason advanced by Vladimir Putin is the request by Ukraine to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation(NATO). His paranoia stems from that fact that if NATO enlists Ukraine, it will presenta threat to the national security of Russia.
But the most annoying aspect of the arrogance of power as displayed by Putin is his argument that Ukraine, a sovereign nation created by the Ukrainian people, when they voted overwhelmingly for independence in a 1991 referendum, is part of Russia.
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In that referendum vote, 84 per cent of eligible voters went to the polls, and more than 90 per cent voted in favour of independence.
Ukraine used to be part of the Soviet Union but went it way,when the empire collapsed. Ukraine is not the first country to break away from a Union or colony that it used to belong. Ghana, in 1957, broke away from being a colony of the United Kingdom, when it gained its independence.
So for Putin to still claim that Ukraine, a sovereign nation is still part of Russia is standing history on its head.
In the considered opinion of this newspaper, the international community, especially, the seven most developed economies, the so-called G7 countries of the United States of America, the United Kingdom, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan are to blame for the ordeal Ukraine is presently undergoing.
They naively relied heavily on diplomacy in their dealings with a man like Putin threatening sanctions which the Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, insisted will not be enough to deter the resolve of Putin.
The meaningless rhetoric must stop, the time for talking is over, we call on the rest of the world, especially, the United Nations, must show leadership and call Putin to order.
As a newspaper, we are optimistic that, the determination of the people of Ukraine will prevail, and the fate that befell Russia in Afghanistan awaits them Ukraine.
