UKRAINE BORDER DEBACLE: IT'S TIME TO DARE VLADIMIR PUTIN TO A WAR.

ICHEOKU has for a long time been a disciple of do no harm and do not make Vladimir Putin madder than he already is, forcing him to snap. But it seems that the Russian sit-tight dictator is increasingly feeling too emboldened and now strongly believes that the West is afraid of engaging Russia in a kinetic fiery war. This is the only plausible reason he every so often, makes threats and amasses troops on Russia's border with Ukraine, daring the West and setting certain ridiculous redlines. 

In April last year the world witnessed the same drama which nearly reached the blink until the former German Chancellor Angela Merkel put her matron-weight on and leaned on Vladimir Putin to ratchet down his threats and withdraw his troops from the border. Less than one year later, the petit tsar of Russia is back at his game again and this time, more emphatic that only an iron-clad security guarantee from the West that Ukraine MUST NOT EVER be allowed to join NATO will starve off an assured invasion of the country. According to his warped narrative, allowing Ukraine to join NATO will be having NATO in Russia's immediate backyard and that is not acceptable to him due to Russia's security interest. 

ICHEOKU says it is the lamest argument the little man can make because there are other countries which share border with Russia that are members of NATO including Estonia and Latvia, as well as the United States of America and Turkey, which each has a maritime border with Russia in the Bering Sea and the Black Sea respectively. So the argument is self defeating, otherwise why does Vladimir Putin not also feel that Russia's security interest is similarly being threatened by these other four countries' membership of NATO. 

The fact of the matter is that Russia's President Vladimir Putin is acting like a dog in the manger, reminiscing of the good old days when the Union of Socialist Soviet Republic existed and rues for it. He is trying everything he can to resurrect it and the West must stand their ground and not ever allow such a compelled co-existence of the unwilling to ever take root again. Even the distance from Latvia and Estonia to Saint Petersburg and Moscow are nearer than from Ukraine to those two Russian biggest cities. So, what exactly is Vladimir Putin talking about in pushing the narrative of security concerns with Ukraine membership of NATO since NATO can also bomb Russia from the four countries should it ever come to that. 

A matter made even more laughable in these days of advanced military warfare when military conquest no longer necessarily depends largely on the infantry as they once did. With long range missiles and bombers as well as drones and rockets, which can pierce through borders and penetrate other defenses, who needs a land border to attack and defeat a country's army. NATO must not therefore yield an inch in the latest face-off with Russia and should as a matter of actionable necessity, encourage Ukraine and Finland and Sweden and any other country that wants to become a member of NATO to apply for its membership and quickly admit them forthwith. 

Enough of the deference to Vladimir Putin's threats as it is now getting into his head that the West is afraid of fighting Russia. If he wants war let him have war; and if he defeats NATO and conquers the West, we shall be ready to learn Russian and enjoy drinking vodka and eating caviar and whatever delicacies that make Russians Russians. But whatever happens before then, his bluff should be called off now and let him do his worst. As Fela Anikulapo Kuti would put it, it is "unnecessary begging for area", trying to pacify Vladimir Putin or persuade him not to invade Ukraine each time he amasses his army at their border. 

Saddam Hussein was not begged over Kuwait but he was eventually forced out of the country, which eventually led to his demise. President Vladimir Putin is not any different from Saddam Hussein except that he has some nuclear weapons, but he is not the only one with access to the atomic destroyer. If he is tired of living or remaining a dictator or imposed leader of Russians, let the West grant him his wish and facilitate his quick exit. But in any other event, the West must refuse to be dictated to by Vladimir Putin and his intermittent mood swings that fuels his threats to invade Ukraine.

ICHEOKU used to sometimes defend him and have on some other occasions, pleaded for cutting him some slacks, but he is stretching his luck too far such  that it is now bordering on hostage taking. How can he be dictating to a sovereign independent country which organization to join and/or which countries to make diplomatic friends with. It is what comes with staying in power for too long, such that he is now seeing himself as invincible and untouchable; and that he can do whatever the heck he wants. But in his foolish arrogance, he has forgotten that the West is not Russian people, who he has completely emasculated and currently sitting on their collective heads, with their destiny totally atrophied by his very myopic and clueless understanding of the new world order where liberty nurtures enterprise and leadership is no longer a one-man knows-it-all affair. 

The other time he boasted that if Russia had sunk a British naval ship that nothing would have happened because the West knows that they cannot emerge victorious in a confrontation with Russia. He also bragged that Russia's response to any provocation will be asymmetrical, rapid and harsh; and that the West dare not cross his set deadline which he has now identified as Ukraine being admitted to NATO. ICHEOKU says unless NATO and the West has been intimidated by his fiery rhetorics, now is the time to permanently shut up Vladimir Putin and dare him to do his worst by crossing his redline, by admitting Ukraine into NATO. 

This is the only way to permanently solve the Putin problem because if the current impasse is resolved in his favor, he will up the ante the next time by demanding that every former Soviet country be handed back to Russia. He is testing the waters of resolve of the West and NATO to see what he can get away with; and it is about time he is cut to his size and told to take a hike on a lonely highway to hell and stay there until it freezes over. He is no longer behaving well and no more bone of sanction relief should be thrown to him, not this time; only a scorched earth approach should be deployed in order to force out a good behavior from him. 

It is doubtful that Russian soldiers and military equipments have become so good that they will make a mincemeat of NATO. They bleed and die just like any other soldiers and their weapons are also destructible as well. If millions perish in the process, so be it; but Vladimir Putin needs to be stopped now to end his petulance. He got away with South Ossetia and Abkhazia as well as Crimea and Donbas, and is now coveting a bigger prize, the entire Ukraine. He only became brazen because he was not confronted when he took these territories, but it is not too late to stop him and put an end to these despotic adventurism across Russia borders. Marriage is not by force and for a divorcee, it sounds rather contradictory that he is insisting that Ukraine cannot free itself from Russia's tentacles. 

It is very rude and overbearing of him to think that sequel to dictating for Russian people and micromanaging their lives in every minutia, that he can now freely export his dictatorship to other neighboring countries of Russia. Just one little man who has completely turned Russia into a laughable third world country-like place, believing that he alone knows what is best for Russians, having been glued to power for over 23 years now, since 1999. It is time to check his arrogance and force him to curb his Bonaparte syndrome's excessive enthusiasm. Let the West admit Ukraine into NATO now and let Vladimir Putin do his worst. Enough of his petulance.