The Tribune

EDITOR, The Tribune.

We are very lucky to live in a democracy, in a democracy we are allowed to write and say what we like. As an example we can write a letter to our newspapers (and importantly get them published) critical of the government. We have the right of freedom of speech. In the USA a very large democracy widely differing opinions are voiced freely within the media. You have opinions from the extreme right with outright racist/anti-Semitic points of view. You also have opinions from the extreme left advocating communism as a form of government. These are not mainstream opinions and have small followings, but importantly they are allowed to voice their opinions regardless of how unsavory they are.

There is a long rambling letter in today‘s Tribune basically stating that the democratic west has got it all wrong in regards to the war in Ukraine. The letter states Russia and Putin have got it right. There was also reference to China as a moral compass agreeing with Russia.

Well, where does one start?

There are no opposition parties in Russia and China. Freedom of speech and democracy do not exist. If you were to stand up on the local street corner denouncing President Putin in Russia or President Xi in China you would be quickly removed not to be seen or heard of again. When you live in a democracy we take our freedoms for granted, but just think in Russian and China these freedoms do not exist.

Putin is an absolute leader and has been in power for over 20 years and will, barring unforeseen circumstances, stay in power until his death. Putin longs for Russia to be a major superpower again as in the glory days when he was an officer in the USSR’s secret and vicious secret service, the KGB.

Putin himself is rumoured to be one of the richest men on the planet who has a host of oligarchs who launder his vast wealth most of which comes from Russia’s rich energy resources. These oligarchs have billions of dollars of the Russian citizens’ money stashed away throughout the western world. Today‘s Tribune highlights $2.92 billion of Russian money here in the Bahamas and we are a small cog in the financial world.

Will Putin be satisfied with conquering Ukraine? He is 69 and showing clears signs of paranoia and possibly slipping into insanity. He has access to 4500 nuclear weapons.

If Putin carries on west into say Poland or any other NATO protected country then World War is a strong possibility all because of one man’s mental instability.

They called WW1 the war to end all wars. Sorry, not true a full scale nuclear world war will kill billions and every life left on the planet will change forever.

The letter attempting to defend Putin is not mainstream it’s from the fringes, it’s an extremist opinion. How can you defend the indefensible?

Einstein famously said “I don’t know what WW3 will be fought with, but WW4 will be fought with sticks and stones.”

Putin is a danger to all citizens of the World.

THE REALIST

Nassau,

March 21, 2022.