Is the West doing enough to stop Putin?

Perhaps other people have questions similar to mine about Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war — maybe other people are wondering whether Ukraine can be saved. Putin is waging war on civilians: men, women and children who are insignificant cannon fodder. It’s a war of choice by a dictator who is only interested in gaining territory, oil reserves, several ports and a newly weakened neighbor.

Some would argue it is the duty of Ukrainians to defend their country. I would agree. However, the United States and NATO are sending war and humanitarian supplies in large quantities without directly engaging Putin. This has become a NATO war by proxy. I wonder at what point this side of the war becomes equally as immoral as Putin’s war.

It is quite convenient to arm Ukraine and let its own people die while seemingly observing from outside the theater of war. When does NATO do the obvious and necessary, e.g., enter the war directly? Is it when Ukrainian deaths reach 10,000? Twenty thousand? One hundred thousand?

If your sister was being attacked on the street, do you throw her some brass knuckles and merely watch to make sure she holds her own, or do you run out and try to save her from certain harm? NATO will eventually enter the war. How many Ukrainians must die to reach this decision?

In 2014, Putin took the Crimea from Ukraine. That was OK with NATO because it was just a peninsula and it was over in a flash, so to speak. Putin then took the Donbas region via his proxies and NATO stood by. Yes, but we instituted sanctions on Russia, you say? We also clearly signaled that Putin’s aggression would be tolerated, and here we all are. I am not advocating endless warfare typical of our history for the last 5,000 years.

However, I must question the point, the exact point, where we engage to save our sister country from the street bully. Yes, the dangers are many, but what will we do when Putin decides he wants the Baltic States back under his thumb? Will we continue to rely on sanctions that hardly affect Putin himself? He is unbearably rich and lacks any sense of humanity. Just ask his own soldiers.

Or, do we engage him then? Saving our sister countries is complicated. Saving our sister is less so because we would act quickly. How long do we wait? What is our moral obligation to step in to save innocent citizens or our own flesh and blood? Whatever your answers, stop and think about them before you make a definitive decision. Lives depend on it.