Profound Sadness for the Ukrainian People

 I think all Americans, watching the disastrous Russian invasion of Ukraine are deeply saddened by the suffering Putin is imposing.

For the first time in history, we get a front row seat to the savagery of war.  We get an up close up look at the faces of all the people being tortured by an autocratic dictator.  Vietnam was a difficult war, but it was a ten minute blurb on the nightly news.  Modern technology brings us right to the front lines of this war, with devastating portrayals of the many faces of war.  And no matter where we are, we are confronted with the truth of this.

I lost many friends in Vietnam.  I spent the year after high school graduation going to funerals for boys who had just been to prom a few months earlier.  Vietnam hit me full force in the gut, but this war is challenging my peace of mind every second of every day.  

Therefore, I beg the question.  Why hasn't Putin been arrested, or better yet, assassinated?  Obviously, he is a war criminal.  He not only assaults the people of Ukraine, but he assaults his own people, as well.  How hard can it be to get to this man?   This is an "in your face" reminder of what happened under Adolph Hitler.  No one stopped him.  By taking no action against him, we abetted him in all of his genocidal insanity.   I know we have to be ultra-concerned about a mad man in a seat of power who has access to nuclear missiles.  Not that long ago, we all held our breath when Trump lost the election and spun even further into his own dark mental illness.  And I don't doubt, for a moment, that Putin would use nuclear weapons as a last act of defiance against the west.

But we can land a man on the moon, we can read a license plate from a space satellite we can do all kinds of incredible things.  So tell me, why can't we get to Putin and put a stop to this insanity?  The whole world would welcome that news.