Letter: Putin out to recreate ‘glory’ of Soviet Union

By Letter to the Editor on May 4, 2022.

Dear editor,

Vladimir Putin, like Stalin before him… like Kruschev, Breshnev and all the other communist dictators before him, will understand only one ‘threat,’ the threat of the willingness and preparedness by NATO to stand and fight.

Remember when Nikita Kruschev shipped all those ballistic missiles to Cuba? It took the direct threat by President Kennedy to bomb Cuba, including the use of nuclear weapons, if Nikita didn’t remove those missiles forthwith… and guess what; that’s what it took to have the Soviets ‘believe’ Kennedy was prepared to do that. But Kruschev was not a KGB trained man. Putin is, was, and will remain a lifelong KGB man. He’ll do whatever it takes to bring Ukraine to its knees, no matter how many atrocities, war crimes he and his henchmen are prepared to commit and no matter how courageous the Ukrainians are.

I am old enough to remember what Stalin was prepared to do, among the many other war crimes he had or was threatening to commit (starve West Berlin) it was only his full belief that the U.S., Britain, the French and the Canadians and who knows how many others, were quite ready and actually willing to stand and fight. So what am I getting at? All the ‘sanctions, the shipments of the many lethal weapons, all the expressions of solidarity, the condemnations from the many members of the UN, all the ribbons showing the Ukrainian colours, all the threats by the West, all the stationing of battle groups in places like Latvia, etc., none of those will persuade a KGB man like Putin to cease and desist… only the threat of full scale intervention and Putin’s full conviction that the West means it will persuade him and his friends to call it off. It has be in such a way that Mr.Putin doesn’t lose face, can still claim he actually won to his many Russian supporters.

Putin knows just the mention of having mobilized his nuclear arsenal, of being prepared to use ‘small’ nuclear artillery shells, was enough for the West to be frightened. Comrade Putin – yes, Putin is still a firm believer in what the Soviet Union had been and is determined to recreate – unless he suffers from some form of insanity, will persevere and will very likely be ‘right on.’ If he is suffering from a bit of insanity – and I doubt it – he would be even more dangerous. Nobody should be surprised if Putin is on his way to achieve what he had on his mind for a long, long time… recreating the ‘glories’ of the Soviet Empire.

Ted Kohlmetz

Medicine Hat

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