Army Bob: Let’s pray for peace, but prepare for war

by Robert M. Traxler

This column has maintained for weeks now that the Red Army is a blunt force object; I hope I am wrong, and they continue to use mostly targeted strikes on Ukrainian forces and cities. The question will end up being, will the civilian leadership of Russia and the Red Army continue with a slow, targeted offensive, or will they weather the storm of world backlash and use their overwhelming firepower against the population?

The outrage worldwide would be massive, but the war would end quickly; massive civilian casualties and a lack of supplies for the people will break the Ukrainian people and military, brutality and quickly. The cold-blooded equation will be, is it better to add Ukraine and its massive wealth and resources to Mother Russia and weather the short-term anger of some, but not most, of the world? Russia, India and China along with Cuba, Pakistan, North Korea and others support Russia.

Will the end justify the means is the basic question; short-term pain for long-term gain? 

The history of the Russians under President Putin is one of conquest and expansion. The world was outraged but quickly forgot the first invasion of Ukraine in 2014, Georgia in 2008, Chechnya 1999 and many much smaller actions; do we remember them?  No, most of us do not, so Ukraine will fade even if the Russian military use their massive firepower, even thermobaric munitions that can destroy a battalion-level unit in place with one salvo from conventional or rocker artillery, or delivered by heavy bombers like the Tupolev TU95, or TU 95, that will decimate organized resistance and destroy a dozen city blocks in one mission.  

Please keep in mind that the war between Russia and Ukraine is in its opening weeks; the population is not out of food, water or heat, and they even have Internet services. The full reality and horror of war has not hit the Ukrainian people. Most Ukrainians can move around the nation go to stores, watch television, stay warm; in short, the majority of the population has not been mugged by the reality of war.

The Red Army can cut the availability of goods and services anytime they wish — destroy bridges, rail lines, airports, and supply chain facilities at will. Why they have not is puzzling; it is great they have not, but if they are going to defeat the Ukrainian military, history teaches us that they need to destroy the morale of the people. 

The civilian casualties are numbered in the hundreds to a few thousand; when that number increases tenfold, the Russians will win and we and history as always will forget what happened to the people of Ukraine as we did in 2014. 

A word for the good folks who are advocates for socialism. Defunding or reimagining the police and world peace, none of those concepts has ever worked. Noble and high minded as it all is, when you folks are mugged by the reality of life, it becomes apparent that even tried hundreds of thousands of times, a utopia free of war, crime, greed and violence, was and will never be achievable, not with insects, plants, animals or humans.

Peace through strength must be the slogan; however, history proves that regardless of fact or common sense, even reality, people will hide from the real world under a cloak of high-minded ideals.  It is said Genghis Kahn wiped out entire races of people, true genocide; Hitler tried to erase what was referred to at the time a race of people from the earth. Apparently the peace-niks forgot to read and learn from history.

The communist government of Cambodia or Democratic Kampuchea, and yes, the expansion of communism after we left Vietnam and it fell to the communists, killed over 3,000,000 in four years from 1975 to 1979, more than died during the 20 years of the Vietnam War. Afghanistan is just starting to pile up the dead; time will tell how brutal our cutting and running was for the people, and the body count will be forgotten.

Pray for peace but prepare for war. The Pax Romana (Roman Peace) deserves study by the peace-niks. My opinion.