NEWFANE — A large country, armed to the teeth, entering into the dusk as a superpower, makes outlandish claims about another, much smaller and weaker country. The rest of the world's nations scratch their heads and wonder at these claims.
The large country amasses troops and armaments near the smaller country. It gives the smaller country an ultimatum that cannot be met because it is based on a false premise.
Very few other nations are interested in joining the bellicosity of the large country, whose foreign minister goes to the United Nations and makes grand accusations that are patently false.
Important leaders of the large country claim that they will be welcome as liberators in the small country. The world wonders how the citizens of the large country could believe their leaders' claims so enthusiastically without solid evidence.
Lacking international support, the large country cobbles together a few proxies and dependent countries to pretend that it has a coalition united with it.
The large country invades the smaller. Civilian casualties mount daily. Reporters, who are sending home images that contradict the narrative of the aggressor, are targeted. Many are killed.
No one welcomes the invading army as liberators. In fact, they offer fierce resistance to the invaders, and the war drags on much longer than the overconfident and clueless invaders thought it would.
Soldiers who thought they were fighting for a noble cause soon realize that they have been duped. War crimes are committed by the demoralized and falsely-led troops. Cities are devastated. Free-fire zones are used when resistance is especially tough. The destruction wrought leads to a future of anarchy, terrorism, and more war.
It's too bad that the world didn't rise up against the United States and sanction us before we invaded Iraq. If our economy had been gutted, if we had all been grounded from traveling internationally, if we had been chastised as the pariah we had become, perhaps Americans would not have been so gung-ho in their support for George W. Bush's and Dick Cheney's war.
Our support allowed that war to happen. What was the result? The rise of ISIS, anarchy, and the loss of women's rights in Iraq. The loss of American lives, prestige, and treasure.
Putin's war in Ukraine is an abominable war crime. It is right to oppose it however possible. But we have no right to be perched on our high horse while we do.
If we once again forget our past culpability and monstrous military adventures, then we will not have the necessary humility to be useful and honest brokers in trying to end this latest crime against humanity.