The horrors that the world has seen in the footage emerging from the Russian destruction and slaughter of the people of Bucha have raised two questions which no civilized person ever expected to hear. One might potentially be helpful in bringing an end to the brutality. Could the speed with which the world has seen the horrific images emerge accelerate a positive resolution to the conflict? Second, in historical terms, could Vladimir Putin be even more dangerous than other dictators whom the world faced in recent history?
There is no question that the photos and videos coming from Ukraine are having an impact. Seeing the horrific pictures of the slaughter of innocent women and children from Bucha and elsewhere have raised the conscience of much of the world; although perhaps not yet as much as one might have expected.
Many historians and serious journalists who have studied the history of war have contemplated the following questions. If Americans had seen the slaughter which occurred at the Battle of Gettysburg on their Nightly News, hundreds of thousands of American lives might have been saved as both the North and the South would have sued for peace. If journalists had been able to report every night from the front lines during the Battle of the Somme as both sides massacred each other, would it have awakened the world to the brutality of trench warfare and poisonous gas being used as both sides fought over inches of territory on the Western Front? Similarly, there were numerous battles during World War II where the reporting was oral while the pictures came later. Even Edward R. Murrow reporting during the “blitz” in London required the public’s imagination until the newsreels arrived in the local movie theatres. Walter Cronkite was reported to have said that the fact that American television reporters were sending back videos within hours of a battle in Vietnam (relayed from Guam)—as the American people saw piles of dead bodies and rising body counts—registering with the public and fueling opposition to the war. The question today is whether even after the world has seen pictures of the remains of victims from the Nazi perpetrated Holocaust as well as the emaciated survivors, will the leadership of the international community receive sufficient public support to press ahead and bring the senseless bloodbath in Ukraine to an end?
Similarly, understanding the damage that can be done to innocent civilians by gas, chemical, and nuclear weapons, is the West prepared to challenge President Putin with more serious economic sanctions, while producing greater costs to the Western economies? Are the NATO countries ready to increase their delivery of weapons to the Ukrainian military so they can repel the counter-offensive Russia is no doubt preparing? Will these efforts bring about a resolution to the fighting?
Unfortunately, those concerned about trying to end the war more quickly raise the existential questions to which President Biden and other world leaders have referred to since the outbreak of the war. How far is Putin prepared to go to achieve his goal, and to satisfy his ego as well as his distorted view of history? To what extent will the West face him down given the possibility that he could introduce nuclear weapons into the fray?
The world recalls that Japan did not possess a nuclear bomb in 1945. Stalin and his successors all had such weapons during the Cold War. It has been documented that Hitler was on the way to creating a nuclear bomb and his V-1 and V-2 rockets suggested he was close to having a delivery system. It has been assumed, that Hitler would have used a nuclear rocket, but it was never clear about the Russians; certainly for the leaders of the Soviet Union beginning in the 1950’s after Stalin.
At this juncture, Putin does not appear to be so desperate. Yet were his Ukraine offensive to fail to achieve a resolution that he can accept or if he were to take the war beyond Ukraine, the U.S. and it allies will need to decide whether to act pre-emptively? The likelihood and the consequences of that scenario are now undoubtedly being gamed in the Pentagon and in Langley.
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