As a commander of US Army troops that defeated the Nazi regime in Germany 77 years ago, Gen. Omar Bradley knew a lot about war. Three years after the Second World War ended, he warned, "The world has achieved brilliance without wisdom, power without conscience. Ours is a world of nuclear giants and ethical infants. We know more about war than we know about peace, more about killing than we know about living."
In the 10 days since Russia unleashed a massive attack on Ukraine, the effects of "power without conscience" have been on full display -- the civilian casualties, the destroyed homes and offices, the hospitals moving underground, the masses of people fleeing for the safety of neighboring countries.
Russian President Vladimir Putin's invasion shocked the world. But it was not a surprise. For months, the US government publicly shared intelligence that it was in the works. And for those who had followed the recent history of Putin's actions, the writing was on the wall for years.
When Olesya Khromeychuk's elder brother, Volodymyr, enlisted in the Ukrainian military and fought against the pro-Russian separatists after war broke out in the Donbas region in 2014, he told her, "Little one, don't you realize this is a European war. It just happened to start in eastern Ukraine."
As she wrote for CNN Opinion, Khromeychuk's brother "was killed by shrapnel in 2017 in the Luhansk region on the front. He was fighting against Russian troops that were pretending not to be there. They no longer need to pretend. The Russian president ordered their assault on the whole of Ukraine, targeting the military as well as civilians, including hospitals and ambulances."
Khromeychuk, the director of the Ukrainian Institute in London, added, "I am a historian. I realize that we are living through a moment that will be on every syllabus of European history. Now is the time to decide what place each one of us wants to have in that history. Stand With Ukraine."
There were plenty of warnings. "This terrifying, world-changing conflict in Ukraine did not start in 2022," wrote Natalia Antelava. "Nor did it start in 2014. It began a decade and a half ago when Russia invaded Georgia and got away with it." She recalled interviewing a Ukrainian soldier named Dima in 2015.
Dima was "stoic, determined, calm. He was 23, a software engineer from Kyiv who had only recently decided to leave his job and join the fight. His girlfriend was furious with him, he told me, but fighting was not optional. 'They think we are fighting to join NATO. But we are only fighting for our values and they happen to be the same as Europe's values. We are fighting for them too. I wish they realized it,' he said."
"They do now," Antelava observed. "The whole world is suddenly high on moral clarity. For everyone who has lived on the frontlines of Putin's hatred for liberal democracy, this show of Western unity and the resurgence of liberal values comes as an incredible relief. But it won't last unless we also accept that it already comes too late for far too many."
Liora Rez, whose Jewish ancestors fled Kyiv during World War II, noted that "the United Nations estimates that more than 800,000 refugees have already evacuated Ukraine since the outbreak of war. Many of these refugees are women and children torn apart from their husbands, fathers and brothers who remain in Ukraine, banded in their determination to protect their land and defend their democratic values."
In 1941, more than 33,000 Jews were shot to death by the invading forces of Nazi Germany at a ravine called Babyn Yar, on the outskirts of Kyiv. Last week, Russian troops attacked a TV transmission tower, striking the area of the Babyn Yar memorial site.
"It seems history is repeating itself less than one century later, and the heartbreak I feel stems from the understanding that this unprovoked conflict, started by yet another dangerous man, will lead to so much unnecessary suffering. To remain indifferent is not an option. We all have a moral obligation to halt this tragic suffering through an outpouring of humanitarian aid to the innocent refugees and victims."
In Tuesday's State of the Union address, President Joe Biden fiercely condemned the invasion of Ukraine. Putin "thought he could roll into Ukraine and the world would roll over. Instead he met a wall of strength he never imagined," Biden said. "He met the Ukrainian people."
"Throughout our history we've learned this lesson when dictators do not pay a price for their aggression they cause more chaos. They keep moving. And the costs and the threats to America and the world keep rising." Yet Biden made clear that NATO countries have no intention of directly intervening in the war to counter the Russians, limiting their response to arming the Ukrainians and imposing heavy sanctions.
"Millions around the world watch, outraged, and ask, 'Are we just going to let this happen? Is the world allowing a large, powerful country to swallow up a smaller, weaker one?' And so many people can't believe the world is allowing it to happen," wrote CNN's Marcus Mabry.
During the Cold War, "despite a 'twilight struggle' between the superpowers and their many proxy conflicts and close calls, like the Cuban missile crisis, they never allowed confrontation to escalate to a direct conflict, or worse... There was no nuclear war. No WW III. No annihilation of humanity. Yes, millions were oppressed by Soviet communism. But realpolitik is not, strictly speaking, concerned with that. It is a world Vladimir Putin and Joe Biden grew up in."
"But we have never had to watch realpolitik unfold in real time on 24/7 social media in a world of ubiquitous camera phones," Mabry observed. "And it complicates matters, especially for world leaders, like Biden and Putin. It makes the cruelty of traditional power politics transparent and ubiquitous."
Americans need to stand united against the Ukraine invasion, even when its economic consequences might further raise prices at the gas pump, wrote Garry Kasparov and Uriel Epshtein. Polls show that more than four out of every five Americans -- Republican and Democrat -- support sanctions against Russia. "Anytime Americans agree on something is notable, but it is particularly remarkable given numerous partisan attempts to have us look away, do less and allow Russian leader Vladimir Putin to run roughshod over the Ukrainian people..."
"Americans must maintain this unity, continue our support of the Ukrainian people and recognize the fight for democracy is about much more than one country's ability to determine its own fate. The struggle for democracy is also about the ability to live in a world where disagreements can be solved through diplomacy, where human rights are protected and where peace is the status quo."