Unfortunately for Ukraine, it finds itself geopolitically caught between superpowers vying for influence. Not only is it the largest European country, it’s the fourth largest exporter of wheat. After its independence, Russia was confident in its ability to maintain a strong influence there. It’s when that influence began to turn West that Russia began to growl, and it’s been growling for at least ten years. When it lost that influence it annexed Crimea and set itself up in the Donbas region. Russia was now angry, and although I’m surprised that the West didn’t react, it’s possible things were going on behind the scenes. One has to remember that things were going on in the Middle East, and still are.

What tipped Russia into a full on invasion of the Ukraine isn’t really clear. They site past agreements broken, Ukraine’s desire to join Europe and the threat of Nato on its doorstep if Ukraine joins that alliance. But the Baltic countries of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania are already there. It makes me ask what makes Ukraine uniquely different. Is it simply that Putin has had enough, that he’s developed a Stalinian character, or is there something more going on? It puzzled me that Ukraine came up in Trump’s election campaign in 2016; could something have already been developing?

Whatever the reasons, Russia is now in full blown war in Ukraine, with a possible nuclear confrontation looming over the world. Putin has manoeuvred himself as ‘supreme leader’ of Russia, and tyrants develop unpredictable behaviours. Could Ukraine have been set up to push Putin over the edge, exposing what can be seen as madness, in order to topple him from within Russia? Possibly, but when the world keeps inventing new ways to destroy lives, be it militarily, economically or socially, we offer up tools for the ego to warp unnaturally, losing any humanity or empathy. So why do we keep doing it? It’s sad to see that the world lacks the courage to remove these tools and redesign a system that’s meant to be there to protect and help humanity expand. Materialism, madness and conflict will always be a part of life, but without a system there to support or glorify it, the hold on power it has would diminish.

R.C.