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I stand with Ukraine. Yes, directly, clearly and absolutely. Without half-measures and without navigating in equidistance, because the invasion launched this week by the tyrant Vladimir Putin is an aggression that has no nuance or justification. It is, in itself, a crime, a deeply despicable war.
Drunk in arrogance and in an insatiable ambition for blood and power, Vladimir Putin and the gang of Mafiosi posing as the “government” of Russia prepared for months a massive invasion against a sovereign nation. When the time came, Putin was stripped of his pretexts and ended up directly ordering his army to “disarm” Ukrainians.
And he went further. Between babbling of tyranny, he subtly threatened nuclear retaliation and called into question the sovereignty and the very right to exist of nations that for decades were crushed by the Soviet boot and that only after the fall of the USSR could be free. The sovereignty of those nations is, for Putin, a mistake of the past, which (it is clear) he will seek to reverse.
I stand with Ukraine because:
The Russian invasion is a direct violation of the treaty which that nation signed in the Budapest Memorandum, agreed in 1994 to respect and defend the sovereignty of Ukraine’s territory in exchange for handing over the nuclear arsenal it inherited from the Soviet era. It was signed by Ukraine, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States. Ukraine complied with it; Russia is openly violating it; the other two countries are playing dumb.
The thing is that, if Ukraine wants to join NATO, that fact does not give Putin any right of invading that country. Nations that suffered decades of horrors under Moscow’s tyranny must be free to follow their own way, away from the criminal influence of the gang that rules Russia, and that especially applies to the people of Ukraine, who suffered one of the worst genocides in history, the Holodomor, mass killings planned and celebrated from the same Kremlin where Putin is now throwing his bloody tantrum.
Putin has already said that his ambitions are not going to be stopped in Ukraine. The tyrant in Moscow considers illegitimate all the countries that freed themselves from Russia taking advantage of the chaos of the 80s and 90s. Once he takes control of Ukrainian territory, he will launch himself against Poland, against the Baltic republics, against everything he can, emboldened by Western cowardice.
Because it is a moral duty to demand that the West and particularly the United States and the United Kingdom honor the political and moral commitment underlying the aforementioned Budapest Memorandum. In English: both nations convinced Ukraine to give up the nuclear weapons that were its defense in exchange for protecting it from Moscow’s greed. And they are not complying.
The fact is that although it is true that Biden announced economic sanctions against Russia, in the present circumstances his message was more that of a compromise than a condemnation: Putin keeps Ukraine in exchange for a freeze on his bank accounts for a while. And, without any doubt, Vladimir accepted the deal, which is why he is bombing Kyiv and murdering at will.
In politics, there are many nuances; justifications that come and go, reasons and counter-arguments to the point of exhaustion and absurdity. But there are also moments where taking sides is morally indispensable. The Russian invasion is one of these moments where it is not worth hiding and not taking any side.
It is necessary to speak out. And I stand with Ukraine.
Gerardo Garibay Camarena, is a doctor of law, writer and political analyst with experience in the public and private sectors. His new book is "How to Play Chess Without Craps: A Guide to Reading Politics and Understanding Politicians" // Gerardo Garibay Camarena es doctor en derecho, escritor y analista político con experiencia en el sector público y privado. Su nuevo libro es “Cómo jugar al ajedrez Sin dados: Una guía para leer la política y entender a los políticos”