Nothing can justify the loss of lives, injuries and destruction of property and infrastructure which Russia is inflicting on Ukraine. It is difficult to grasp the fact that this mighty army can be wreaking such havoc and forcing millions to flee to neighboring countries just because it can. And there is not much other nations can do to retaliate in support of Ukraine, apart from imposing economic sanctions against the aggressor, because Russia is already rattling its nuclear saber.
Russia’s autocratic leader Vladimir Putin does not care about world opinion and the toll which the sanctions are taking on his country’s economy. He is obviously driven by geopolitics, the primary determinant for relations among nations going back to at least the invasion and occupation of small states by powerful ones sometimes thousands of miles away during the days of “colonialism.”