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Crocodile will not pull back... Op-Ed by Victor Pelin


https://www.ipn.md/en/crocodile-will-not-pull-back-op-ed-by-victor-pelin-7978_1088140.html

Vladimir Voronin was the first who intuited back in 2002 and compared Vladimir Putin with a crocodile that never pulls back. Certainty, Putin didn’t forgive Voronin for the humiliation to return while on the way to Chisinau, which he was to reach to attend the signing of the Kozak memorandum on the federalization of the Republic of Moldova.”
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War is peace, slavery is freedom...  

The President of Russia Vladimir Putin set fire to the powder keg. A war against Ukraine  was started on February 24, 2022. Putin not even bothered to invent a pretext – casus belli – for invading the neighboring country. Moreover, the invasion was ordered when the UN Security Council was debating the violation by Russia of the status of this organization that has been a symbol of world order after World War II. The announced goal was to demilitarize and denazify Ukraine, which is to blame for refusing to recognize the annexation of Crimea and for opposing the separatism engendered by Russia in Donbas.

The invasion of Ukraine by Russia is nothing else but destruction of the basis of existing international order. In such circumstances, it is not clear what useful purpose such international organizations as the UN, OSCE and others can serve. The international treaties are devalued and threats and arbitrary interpretation of history are used instead. The international community’s opposition will, the attempts to help Ukraine are paralyzed by Putin’s allusions to the use of nuclear weapons

In the aforementioned circumstances, the charm of the post-truth epoch fully manifests itself. This way, Russia accuses Ukraine of having an antidemocratic, corrupt and oligarchic regime. This happens amid the: physical annihilation of political opponents; absence of authentic elections for recycling the frightened Russian elites that during about 25 years haven’t been changed; corruption scandals involving Putin’s friends. In such a context, the labeling of the Ukrainian leaders as a gang of drug addicts amid the mega-scandal with the so-called Argentinian flour - smuggling in drugs in hardy imaginable amounts through Russian diplomatic channels – is funny. The aforementioned examples are relevant in the current circumstances, when the Russian watchdog Rospotrebnadzor warned the mass media that they will be punished if they use such appropriate words as aggression, Russia’s war against Ukraine to describe the so-called military operation. The aforementioned probably goes beyond the imagination of George Orwell

Cain against Abel...  

The war waged by Russia against Ukraine cannot be separated from the building of the Russian Word that claims to be based on a set of values, including Christian ones, which are opposed to the lack of spirituality of the West. In this regard, the reaction of the Russian Orthodox Church to the brothers’ war holds interest. Regrettably, the Orthodox Church preferred to neglect the act of aggression, refusing to condemn the bloodshed. Evidently, the Russian Orthodox Church and its branch in the Republic of Moldova plead for helping the refugees, but do not dare to condemn the aggression. It is a proof of the fact that this Church is actually an ordinary department of the Kremlin.

In contrast to the attitude of the Russian Patriarchate and the Metropolitan Church of Moldova, the Ukraine Orthodox Church of the Russian Patriarchate addressed President Putin: “Immediately stop the brothers’ war … a repeat of the sin of Cain, who, out of envy, killed his own brother… Such a war has no justification either from God or from the people”. Moreover, Metropolitan Bishop Onufriy had the courage to support and to encourage the Ukrainian army’s fight against the Russian aggression: “In this tragic time, we express special love and support for our soldiers who stand guard and protect and defend our land and our people”. This attitude of Metropolitan Bishop Onufriy is sufficient for assessing the Russian World and its values.

Conclusions

President Putin’s behavior shows that this is determine to go till the end despite the Western economic sanctions. It seems that he is ready to pay any price for going down in history as a collector of Russian lands, in accordance with the concept of Putin’s eternal state. In an eventual confrontation with the West, the last ratio of Putin is to resort to the use of a nuclear weapon. No one will risk checking if the Russian President can indeed push the red button and this is not a bluff. This means that Ukraine is regrettably doomed to fight alone against the Russian aggression. Surely, Ukraine will benefit from considerable financial, material support and from the empathy of the whole world, but this is not enough.

There is no doubt that the Republic of Moldova can become the next victim of Putin’s regime and this will be forced to voluntarily accept a federalization model as the one that ex-President Igor Dodon dictated in  2019 to the executive coordinator Vlad Plahotniuc. Apropos, Igor Dodon can play a special role in the relations with President Vladimir Putin. The truth is the latter regrets that after the death of Mahatma Gandhi, he does not have who to discuss the fate of the world with. In such conditions, Igor Dodon dared to compare himself with Mahatma Ganghi and he could therefore have prospects.

For now, the Communist-Socialist coalition of the Republic of Moldova, which was recently formalized, behaves very cautiously in the context of the Russian aggression against Ukraine. The Communists, unlike the Socialists, keep silent and do not say anything about the Russian-Ukrainian war. Vladimir Voronin was the first who intuited back in 2002 and compared Vladimir Putin with a crocodile that never pulls back. Certainty, Putin didn’t forgive Voronin for the humiliation to return while on the way to Chisinau which he was to reach to attend the signing of the Kozak memorandum on the federalization of the Republic of Moldova.