You mustn't say that this war is far from and doesn't concern you. It is the most violent earthquake to rattle the "global village" in decades. This war will affect the price of wheat and the loaf of bread needed by your children. It will affect the price of gas that helps you warm your home. It will affect the price of fuel that your car needs. We live in a very connected world and so bloody adventures are felt everywhere.
It is no stretch to say that this is Putin's war. It was made up by him and he is setting its pace. It will inevitably impact the position of his country in the new world order that may be born this time in Kyiv, not Berlin. It will inevitably impact his standing in his country and later his position among his predecessors in the pages of history.
And because it is Putin's war, it is hard for him to back down from it or return without a price that justifies launching it. Demanding the master of the Kremlin to withdraw from Ukraine without providing him with any guarantees is like asking Saddam Hussein to pull out from Kuwait without a cost and guarantees. History has shown that the one calling the shots may sometimes become captive of a decision he was too quick to take and that his refusal to accept a dent in his image may lead to "dire consequences".
Journalism is a sly and exciting profession that prompts its workers to gather stories and make comparisons in spite of the differences between people, time and place. I watched the leaked video of Putin's meeting with the National Security Council to discuss the recognition of two separatist regions in Ukraine. I was intrigued by the hesitation displayed by the chief of Russian intelligence and Putin's insistence on extracting the answer he wanted from him. He demanded a frank and absolute reply and in the end, he got what he wanted.
Since I am the son of the terrible Middle East, I was reminded of what I heard about meetings of the top leadership and Saddam's claim that he can root out traitors among them just by looking into their eyes.
Has Putin always yearned throughout the years to break the Slavic Ukraine that was quick to betray the Soviet house and later dared to elect a pro-Kyiv president?
In September 1979, Saddam Hussein, who had only been in office for two months, headed his country's delegation to the 6th Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement that was held in Cuba. On the sidelines of the summit, he received Iran's Foreign Minister Ebrahim Yazdi for a meeting attended by a member of the Iraqi leadership, Salah Omar al-Ali.
Officials at the meeting expressed goodwill towards each. Salah told Saddam the meeting was positive and can help ease tensions. Saddam replied: "Be careful, Salah. This opportunity comes only once every hundred years. The opportunity is available now. We will break the Iranians and reclaim every inch they have occupied. We will restore the Shatt al-Arab." Saddam's war against Iran erupted the next year and what was done was done.
I'm not saying that Putin is like Saddam. They come from completely different backgrounds. I am not saying that what Iran was to Iraq is what Ukraine is to Russia. But the powerful president may sometimes become obsessed with vengeance, which may make him go to great lengths, and since he is powerful, he will drag his country along with him.
In the early 1990s, during Boris Yelstin's era, I asked who the powerful man in the country was. The reply was: The American ambassador. When I witnessed the uniforms of the officers of the Red Army being sold for a handful of dollars on Moscow's Arbat Street, I wondered when will the Russians take their vengeance. At the beginning of the 21st Century, Russia tasked a man called Vladimir Putin to seek revenge after the West assassinated the Soviet Union without firing a single shot.
Saddam Hussein carried a wound called the Algiers Agreement that he signed with the Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, on March 6, 1975. Saddam signed off some of Iraq's sovereignty to abort the Kurdish revolution, and so it was. But Mr. President would not have it that he would go down in history for making concessions. So, he launched the war and tore up the agreement. After emerging victorious from the war, Saddam would add debts to his other wound.
In September 1989, Saddam welcomed Emir of Kuwait Sheikh Jaber al-Ahmad, who wanted to congratulate him on the end of the war with Iran. Saddam bestowed upon him the Order of the Two Rivers and later surprised his guest with a draft treaty between their countries. The draft was ready to be signed, but Saddam did not expect his guest to request that it first be studied by experts from their countries. Saddam was furious, but he bit on the wound and the next year he sent his army to invade Kuwait.
Saddam could not accept that his Kuwaiti neighbor could adopt a policy different than Iraq. The president, who was "victorious" in his war against Iran, could not accept that his proposal to sign a treaty with Kuwait would be met with rejection or postponement.
A problem turns into tragedy when a powerful president carries many wounds in his soul. The wounds accumulated in the heart of the Soviet colonel coming out from the darkness of the KGB. The wound of the fall of the Berlin Wall. The wound of the Soviet Union being filed in the history books and museums. The wound of the republics breaking away from the Soviet Union without shedding a single tear. The wound of NATO turning its weapons towards Russian borders in wake of the "colored revolutions" and the rude dividing up of the Soviet legacy.
Ukraine's betrayal was the "mother of all betrayals" and so he began to plan the "mother of all battles". He tore up Georgia and Ukraine, reclaimed Crimea and intervened militarily in Syria. In all likelihood, he was preparing for the major showdown to take place in Ukraine.
Going to war is much easier than backing down from it, especially if it were Russian and on European soil. Russia's invasion is being confronted with western-backed Ukrainian resistance that will lead to dire military, economic, political and humanitarian consequences.
