Wake Up, Vladimir Putin (An Open Letter)

By Reni M. Valenzuela

Russia’s Vladimir Putin wanting all of Ukraine is equal to wanting more killings and deaths. Is that human? Or is Putin a human being?

Combining military and civilian casualties from both sides, the total number of deaths is estimated to be over 1.2 million as of this writing. If you can’t have mercy for the Ukrainians, have it for your own people, Mr. Putin.

The figure underscores the vexatious, maddening madness of the war (your war), markedly in terms of human cost devastation, even as the number of deaths and injured continues to rise by the passage of days, weeks, months and years.

Those who died were humans, lest you forget. They are not to be counted as mere war statistics. Only the devil, the heartless and soulless (and your advisers) do that. The casualties—even soldiers—have their respective families, children, spouses and loved ones to care for, yet these loved ones ended up grieving and deprived for the rest of their lives.

Oh, the stigma, destructiveness and inhumanity of war.

No country ever won a war it started and continued waging—choosing war over peace, or dashing the restoration/prospect of peace by refusing to give it a chance through peaceful negotiations, if only to halt the senseless killings and make way for stability and sanity, for revival and shared progress.

The Central Powers of Austria-Hungary, Germany and others started World War I, but in the end lost to the Allied Powers led by France, Britain, the United States and other nations. The war ended with these rescuing, defending superpowers emerging victorious, rendering the Central Powers powerless and suffering a humiliating defeat.

World War II was more complex and more catastrophic. It was ignited by Germany’s invasion of Poland on Sept. 1, 1939, led by the Nazis under the totalitarian rule of dictator Adolf Hitler.

But the war silently began even before the invasion, through the Soviet Union’s ambition to invade the same country, which the Russians did on Sept. 17, 1939, under orders from another dictator, Joseph Stalin, who ruled the Soviet Union from 1922 to 1953.

Such an invasion by Russia—or the Soviet Union—aggravated the conflict and virtually served as a main catalyst for World War II. In response, Britain and France quickly acted (to be later joined by the U.S.) and declared war on the aggressor countries that same month, officially marking the start of a widespread, global conflagration.

The Soviet Union, which was expected to be aligned with the Central Powers, had craftily entered into a pact with Germany prior to the invasion, which included, alas, a secret protocol dividing Eastern Europe. The USSR eventually occupied the Baltic states and parts of Romania as well.

To cut the story short, we know who lost—the Central Powers, including Japan, with its Hiroshima, suffering an apocalyptic beating of the worst kind. And we know too who won the war, as history bears the record: the heroic, noble Allied Forces (less Russia) that came in defense of the weak and in pursuit of justice and goodness.

The Russia-Ukraine war shows the world yet again the biggest and most tragic mistake mortals can possibly commit—if only for humanity to learn a lesson through psychotic, neurotic, lunatic acts—namely, the act of invading fellow independent nations (or territories not their own).

U.S. President Donald Trump couldn’t have been more forthright and correct in describing the Russian president as “absolutely crazy,” when the latter personally opted out of the peace talks in Istanbul, Turkey, which Trump and other concerned world leaders had arranged between him and the Ukrainian president. Dogged. Proud. Crazy, indeed.

War is animalistic—a godless means, whatever its objective may be—beyond just being an ungodly feat and exploit. Barbarous. Diabolic. Dumb. Hellish.

Hey, Mr. Putin, the question you should be concerned about at this juncture is not how much the war (your war) has cost you and your nation so far—but more importantly: How much more will the war (your war) cost you, your people and the world if you still choose to continue this “war game,” especially now that the ball is in your hands?

War, once started, can only be expected to worsen—from a seemingly “harmless,” restricted armed conflict into a crime of genocide, a catastrophe of massive, horrific proportions against innocent populations and national economies.

War is never progressive, but always retrogressive—satanic. Wake up. You started the Ukraine war, didn’t you? And alas, it appears you have no intention of ending it until perhaps countless millions more lives are lost in your war.

I’ve just watched a few documentary films about Adolf Hitler and World War II. You’d better learn from the devil Hitler, Mr. Russian leader. Watch your steps, because you might already be following in Hitler’s footsteps.

You are a dictator too, no question. And perhaps you even have the same height and physique as the German dictator who committed suicide at the end of World War II. However, you need not suffer the same fate.

You just need to wake up.

I beg you, sir: Don’t drag—wittingly or unwittingly—more countries into this insane “game” of yours. I mean those supporting Ukraine in principle and through supplies: the U.S., Germany, Britain, the United Kingdom, France, Poland, Canada, Japan, Australia, the Czech Republic, the Baltic states, and the rest of the world—soon to become “World War III” Allied Forces.

Be forewarned. Wake up.

It’s great that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky agreed to a ceasefire and table talks with you, to finally end the hell you created and ignited in that part of the world—a “hell” that may soon spread and burn all of humanity should you persist and insist on remaining “absolutely crazy.”

Wake up indeed, Mr. Putin.

The most powerful and other military superpower nations of the world are deeply concerned and committed to resolving “your issues” (or non-issue, actually) with Ukraine to end the war (your war)—ASAP.

But not on your terms—your covetous, carnivorous, hard-nosed terms; certainly not at the expense of world justice, righteousness, and peace and order.

There is a God who rules the world. And that God is not you. You’d better read the writing on the wall and hear the sound of the trumpet, loud and clear.

“God will judge between the nations and will settle disputes for many peoples.
They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks.
Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore.” – Isaiah 2:4

Save Russia, the Russians and yourself (and the world) by saving the remaining Ukrainians and by ordering your soldiers to leave Ukraine—hurriedly.

Come to terms by coming to yourself.

I am talking to you, your honor, President Vladimir Putin.

Wake up. Stand up. Then sit down.

P.S.
Wake up too, China.

Email: renivalenzuelaletters@yahoo.com