I am in blood
Stepped in so far, that, should I wade no more,
Returning were as tedious as go o'er.
I worry that the West does not see which Shakespeare play we're in, regarding Ukraine.
Most of us think it's Hamlet, in which our hero (the West) takes his time to think through and understand a probable murder, shocking even to the murderer himself, shamed by his own ambition. Hamlet promises a strong response. First, a refusal to be nice to Claudius (Russia); then more when the time is right. First, analysis and talking with friends.
This has been our response so far. But we are living in Macbeth.
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We applaud and encourage ambition in our children. We want them to succeed. We want them to strive, do their best, and become someone in life.
Macbeth (Putin) just wants to be King. He is told he will be king. He does his best to become, then stay, king.
How is Macbeth not a hero? We point to six murders, including children, as a central objection. He didn't play by the moral rules of his society. Macbeth lacks the moral compass that is the air his society breathes. The night Duncan is murdered, he sleeps peacefully in Macbeth's castle. He never recognizes the airless world Macbeth moves through, and dies for his ignorance.
Admittedly, we all have a little Macbeth in us. We channel his spirit when our desires bend our sense of right and wrong. But we all have behavioral red lines closer to white lies than to murder or genocide. Full Macbeths learn to shed all red lines to achieve what they want. Most of us have limits.
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Putin wants to Make Russia Great Again. He's just doing his best. Why shouldn't Russia be Great Again? Ukrainians who want their children to grow up prosperous and free like other Westerners are irrelevant, and their deaths are necessary to create a Greater Russia. If the West gets in the way, he promises to nuke us. Putin is Macbeth.
Like King Duncan, Joe Biden and other Western leaders sleep well at night. They trust that Putin will not go farther, that he's not "crazy", and has a red line somewhere. Stepped in blood Putin may be, but we are to blame (we expanded NATO and encouraged Ukrainian democracy). Therefore, shame and banishment from our lovely party will eventually steer him back within the guide rails of Right and Wrong.
We could rewrite Act V of Macbeth with this logic. Malcolm offers Macbeth a Golden Bridge to peace and prosperity. Macbeth sees the errors of his ways, feels sorry, apologizes to MacDuff for the murder of his wife and children. Lady Macbeth stops washing her hands and makes cookies for Malcolm to compensate for the murder of his father. Macbeth dandles Fleance on his knee and sings "Auld Lang Syne", reminiscing about the good times with his father. They all sit down over dinner to decide who should be Thane of Cawdor next.
Why can't Europe see their own murderer coming, but instead sleep in houses warmed by his fuel oil?
Putin should be murdering our sleep. He will continue to wade through blood as long as the West lets him, next in Russia itself destroying his opposition. Then onto Poland or the Baltic states. Then the heart of the West itself. To make Russia Great Again, you know.
Xi Jinping and Donald Trump should also be murdering our sleep.
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