I have a (very naive) thought that Russian invasion of Ukraine poses an elementary school-level moral arithmetic task for a (western) civilization. The task of “Bill has one apple, Bob has two” level.

You have more or less agreed on humanism, human rights, “Never Again” etc. You have massive military and monetary resources, powerful international organizations and blocks. And still, there are a lot of conflicts, suffering, and pain through the world; the response of the international community is usually mixed/tepid.

It always turns out to be something complicated. Something “looking like an internal conflict”. Or some cultural difference so it is hard to understand “who are the baddies”. Or “the region always was this way”. Or too little information, or it is in “weird” languages.

So it is always moral integrals, fractions, and derivatives. Complicated!

And then the world says: OK, here’s a simple one for you.

A crazy dictator invades a peaceful European country. His propagandists openly call for genocide. His soldiers commit systematic war crimes. All in hi-res, real-time, and comprehensible English. What would you do?

The task IS being solved. Slowly. Painfully. Criminally late. And still, a lot of politicians and “public intellectuals” have their “one apple plus two apples” equal to minus potato, or half-a-fish.

I have a hope (a humble one) that maybe, just maybe after solving this simple homework assignment, the world would be a small bit more ready to think about more complicated ones. Like, go to next grade maybe, IDK.

Please proceed with your day.