The West carried out its charade again of trying to bring an end to Russia’s war against Ukraine. The real solution is obvious and has been known for a long time: Force Vladimir Putin to end the six-year hostilities, which have killed 14,000 people and dismembered Ukraine, through a combination of tough sanctions and unrelenting international isolation.
But the leaderless West favors restoring normal relations with the Kremlin rather than getting serious about forcing Moscow to end its savagery. Putin’s blatant seizure of Crimea and invasion of the eastern Donbas in 2014 have brought him wonderful benefits. He’s exposed the weakness of the West, encouraging him to go further. Since then, he’s responsible for war crimes in Syria and he’s interfered in Western elections as part of his desire to sabotage democracy. He has nothing to fear from U.S. President Donald J. Trump, who acts like he’s on the Kremlin payroll. He has nothing to fear from French President Emmanuel Macron, who capitulated this month by saying Russia is no longer a foe. And he has little to fear from German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who is on her way out. Merkel is, however, the best and most principled of the bunch — and we hope Germany keeps its word not to make the massive Nord Stream 2 project operational until Russia guarantees that some of its Europe-bound natural gas will go through Ukraine as well.
Fortunately, the desire to live in democracies is universal. This means that a better job of international coalition-building will have to be done to put democracy back on the march again, rather than in retreat, as it is in too many corners of the world today. Unfortunately, some who are supposed to be leading the charge are, instead, aiding and abetting enemies of freedom.
