ENDY JAY
Saturday 25th February last marked the beginning of the second year of the war in Ukraine, what was given by experts to be a walk in the park, a roll over the weakling Ukrainian army, reminiscent of the invasion of Irak at the beginning of the Century, yet with none of these experts capable to say when and how it will end. But the Bible does as we shall see later.
Here I would like to remind the regular reader that fresh onslaught was not going to end as quickly as predicted by experienced commentators, military and otherwise, in a previous note in these very columns – (Forum, Le Mauricien 12/3/22 , ‘Putin’s rampage not over that soon’). In the process reminding that ‘new’ invasion, unbeknownst to most, including Putin and his inner circle, was prophesied in the Bible book of Daniel chapter 11, verse 44, to wit:- ‘……and he (Putin in his capacity as ‘King of the North’, a term mentioned several times in the book of Daniel to identify one of the two opposing factions throughout a long period of human history starting with the days of the successors of Alexander the Great down to our times) will go out in a great rage to annihilate and devote many to destruction’. And we are all aware of the extent of damage, whether in terms of human lives, property or infrastructure – staggering for a regional conflict between two neighbours and totally unwarranted, save perhaps to satisfy Putin’s outlandish dream to resurrect the defunct Soviet Union or his reported ambition to emulate ‘Peter the Great’ -, a carnage that has won Putin, and rightly so, that infamous appellation of ‘international pariah’.
And I’ll leave it to the reader to determine who were right, those qualified observers and commentators or the Bible. And it’s only the Bible that gives the outcome of these final episodes of these drawn-out conflicts – free for anyone to give more credit to the predictions of Nostradamus, very present on the Net these days along with a string of false prophets, unsurprisingly so since prophesied by Jesus (Gospel of Matthew chapter 24, verses 4&5), associating world events with Bible prophecies relating to the ‘times of the end’ according to ‘their’ interpretations that cannot stand the test of scrutiny. Indeed, however much this escapes attention, we shall soon witness the start of the grand finale when also prior to that, as promised above, we shall see the full accomplishment of that prophecy already mentioned ‘….and he (Putin) will come all the way to his end, and there will be no helper for him’ (Daniel chapter 11, verse 45). Here it is important to underscore that no one can say for sure, at this point of time, what the preceding means exactly, inasmuch as Bible prophecies often have that peculiarity that they are only fully understood after full accomplishment. Yet, it can be safe to say that Putin is playing the very last episode of his machiavellian drama of deliberately bombarding civilian targets or the like of shifting from nuclear deterrence to nuclear blackmail, characteristic of a man with the back to the wall attempting, yet to no avail, to trick his way out of this imbroglio he himself initiated, albeit unwittingly, without having to lower p… And his latest ‘c’est le bouquet’: the ‘West is responsible for the Ukrainian war’!!!
Gross miscalculations
This said, this rout in Ukraine for what had always been considered as one of the mighty armies of our times has laid bare a number of staggering realities:
(1) Gross miscalculations of the determination and resolve of Zelensky to stand up to the challenge, along with his compatriots, while almost everybody saw the Ukrainian army as a mere sitting duck – that Zelensky considered a clown by Putin but dubbed ‘the clown with balls of steel’ by the West;
(2) Underestimating NATO’s response. Above I wrote ‘new’ invasion inasmuch as Russia first invaded Ukraine in 2014 and annexed Crimea with the West’s only response then being verbal condemnations and some sanctions not biting enough to deter Putin to undertake that second invasion. But this time it has been a totally different story. Putin’s main pretext to invade Ukraine was to check NATO’s advance towards the East. As things have turned out, suffice it to remind that Putin has shot himself in the leg, even perhaps in the …!, given the enormity of the miscalculations now that NATO is more united and more determined than ever before to thwart Putin’s ambitions and cut him down to size. And Biden’s recent ‘Ukraine must win this war’ while on a recent visit to Poland (that visit itself replete with significance) speak volumes. And assistance Ukraine has so far received from the West in terms of military equipment, even state-of-the-art weaponry, have helped it fight this ‘proxy’ war, inflicting heavy casualties on the Russian army, raising serious doubts as to whether the latter was nothing more than a paper tiger with shaky strategies and tactics in the ongoing war, even at times it occurred ‘zet fizi boure’;
(3) Failure of the FSB (successor of the KGB) to provide reliable intelligence prior to the invasion. Putin could not have believed the Russian army would steamroll Ukraine without the relevant intelligence reports, however wide of the mark they were. Here, interestingly, there are two schools of thought – one laying bare the incompetence of Russian intelligence, yet another speaks of sycophancy whereby Putin was told what he wanted to hear. Dictators and those with such tendencies usually surround themselves with an army of sycophants, more often that not also incompetent. We know one or two things about that.
Notwithstanding what precede, my intention in writing this note is not to direct the spotlight on the Ukrainian war and its ramifications (and I concede this is apt to surprise the reader), but to take it as yet another example, and a very appropriate one for that matter, to lay emphasis on the limitations, double-dealing and failures of human rulership – miscalculations, bluffs, lies, sycophancy, blackmail, crossing the red line, you name it -, added to countless other like instances in modern times, while reminding that if Putin is now definitely an international pariah, he is not the only villain around, albeit a supreme one. And to remind these ‘saviours’ from the West are no choir boys!
Miscalculations, bluffs, lies, sycophancy, etc, do not these – ‘toutes proportions gardées’ – remind us of things nearer to us? Come on, this is no brainer!
(*To remind the regular reader, once more, to keep the term in a corner of his memory, for I’ll be back at the right time. It’s my solemn promise!).
P.S.: In relation to Nostradamus and these modern day pseudo prophets – the latter soon to fall flat on their faces and faint out of fear when things they did not see coming – tout prophètes qu’ils prétendent être – occur, I have deemed it appropriate to bring the following teachings of the Holy Bible to the attention of the reader:
(1) Do not put your faith in princes, nor in the son of man who cannot bring salvation (Psalms 146, verse 3).
(2) There should not be found in you anyone who ……… or a professional foreteller of events. (Deuteronomy chapter 18, verses 10-11).
(3) From the beginning I (God) foretell the outcome and for long ago things that have not yet been done, and I say my decision will stand (Isaiah chapter 46, verse 10).