Is "Never Again" Even Relevant Anymore?

 One of the most consistent sayings, or thoughts, or determinations that emerged out of the Holocaust in WWII was the term "Never Again".  Who hasn't heard it?  It was all about the world's people and governments never again allowing such a terrible thing to happen.  Never again could such a heinous thing to occur.  It is a blight on humanity.  And over the years it has morphed from never again allowing the Jewish people to be the victim of such unspeakable horror and murderous violence to never again allowing genocide to occur right in front of our faces.  

World governments have generally agreed to take action to prevent the recurrence of such events.  There are treaty organizations, alliances, UN peacekeepers, and governments in leadership positions around the world that have proclaimed loud and clear that they will respond to atrocities in a rapid manner and do what is necessary to protect people.  But have they done that?  

But of course, the reality is quite different than a brave declaration in their home capitals or places like Brussels.  It's one thing to boldly and bravely declare support and that "whatever is required" will be undertaken to protect the innocent from despotic bullys.  It's quite another to do it.

The reality is that there have been plenty of examples of egregious harm being done to one population by another and, although the harm has been deadly, so many times the world looked the other way.  Take the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan.  What they have done to the country, and in particular it's women is an atrocity by any estimation.  But Afghanistan is a special kind of hard.  It's a tribal society that has proven to be impermeable to outside influence.  Look at the list of any of the several African countries that have leaders who have inflicted death and destruction on both its populace and neighboring populations.  And once again, it's tribal.  Making a difference in some of those places would be conquest and rule.  That's simply not in the cards for most first world countries.  We hear frequently about the atrocities that China inflicts on religious minorities.  And to go full circle, the Palestinian hatred against Jews is routinely taken up by the progressive left in this county who seem to have forgotten..."never again".  So no situation around the world is easy.  The only easy thing is saying..."never again".

So 2022 arrives and the situation in Ukraine is slapping the world square in the face.  I don't have to describe it because it's right out there clearly in open news sources.  The invasion by the Russian bullys, the heroic resistance by the Ukrainian people, the horrendous plight of refugees fleeing for their lives, or the pleas for assistance by their inspiring leader...it's all out there for us to see every day.  

The world looks at what is happening and the emotions range from horror to anger to sympathy to resolve.  And don't get me wrong, there are things being done.  There is equipment and supplies flowing to the aid of the resistance fighters in Ukraine.  I saw this chart that a friend posted over on FB from Financial Times and it is evidence of the support for Ukraine.  The West is generally doing a credible job of supplying Ukraine with all the implements of war.  Is it enough?  No.  

But one sad fact remains.  They are gonna get the hell beat out of them.  The Russian Bear isn't going to stop.  They are using tactics designed to kill, maim and inflict terror.  They are not using precision weapons on targeted operations.  They are putting artillery and tank rounds into apartment houses, banks, hospitals, transportation hubs, and generally whatever the hell else they feel like obliterating.  We're only a couple weeks into this war and the images emerging from inside Ukraine are already almost unbearable.  

I'm just one guy posting musings on a silly little blog.  And it's pretty easy sitting in my warm, comfortable house surrounded with the comforts of home to postulate on what action the world will take to stop the genocide.  Because that's what it is.  I'm not advocating any sort of specific action by the U.S. but I do wonder what it will take for action to be taken?  What kinds of heinous images have to be slammed on the doorstep of the civilized world to decide to stop the monster from Moscow?  And who would lead us through such a dangerous time?  But that issue is probably the subject of another post.  Of course the danger is that a wider war spills out of Ukraine and becomes another World War.  And the ultimate danger is that one side or the other initiates a nuclear attack.  But while the playground analogy is simplistic it applies.  Let the bully get away with one thing, and he's gonna take another.  Someone's gotta stop him or we're all eventually going to lose our lunch money.

We have 24/7 media in every aspect of our lives so that there are millions of armchair national security strategists.  If Hitler would've faced today's media in the 1930's I wonder if he would have been as successful as he was in killing jews and decimating Europe.  We were looking the other way for many years.  It took a devastating surprise attack on a sleepy Sunday morning in Pearl Harbor to drag us into the fight.  

So I keep wondering, will some country or alliance of countries somewhere say this cannot stand?  Will some country or alliance of countries somewhere stand up and join the fight?  What will it take beyond what we've seen?  And will some country or alliance of countries somewhere say, Never Again...and mean it?