We’ve all seen it: the big, not-so-smart kid who just can’t resist pushing the quiet, respectful kid around for his lunch money, or his cool jacket . . . or just because he can.

Or, even worse today, the cyberbully who spreads malicious lies about his victims online, for the whole world to see and believe. Unforgivable — both of them.

But what happens when those bullies grow up, but don’t grow out of their vicious tendencies, and the bullying begins on a larger scale? Or — worst-case scenario — when they become leaders of countries? And when those countries begin bullying other countries; destroying their lands and cities with missiles and bombs; raping, torturing and killing their citizens — all because they want what the other “kid” has? And before you know it, the bully’s friends join in for a piece of the action, the victim’s friends rush to his defense, and . . .

The answer is obvious: in the schoolyard, you’ve got a rumble. But what happens in a country is a coup, or a revolution, or an all-out war (even when the bully euphemistically insists it’s just a “special military operation”). And there’s no sense in pussy-footing around. We all know who I’m talking about. The big bully in today’s schoolyard is Russia, and the leader of the pack is Vladimir Putin. The victim, of course, is Ukraine . . . for now.

But let us not forget about the bully’s buddies — in this case, Putin’s best friend, Aleksandr Lukashenko, self-proclaimed president of Belarus. By itself, this wasn’t a country that previously gave us much to worry about. But now . . . well, its strategic location as Ukraine’s immediate neighbor to the north, and the nature of its crazed and ambitious leader, do give us cause for grave concern. And especially when he starts spouting threats of responding to “aggression” with nuclear weapons. Weapons which, by the way, have been entrusted to him by none other than his BFF, Mr. Putin.

So, what about that strategic location? Well, first of all, in order for Russian troops to travel by land from Belarus to another strategic bit of Russian territory — Kaliningrad, on the Baltic Sea — they have to pass through a small piece of neighboring Poland known as the Suwalki Gap. And Poland’s long eastern border is also shared by both Belarus and Ukraine. So Poland is a juicy temptation to our Russian and Belarusian bullies. And recently, there have been apparent violations of Polish airspace by Belarus, as well as repeated attempts to cross the border into Poland. As a result, the Polish government has deployed some 10,000 defensive troops to their shared border.

And that is when Lukashenko began loudly threatening retaliation against any so-called “aggression” on the part of Poland or two other NATO neighbors, Lithuania and Latvia.

BOOM!

The bully’s best friend has a big mouth and a short fuse. He also now has the means to back up his threats. What we don’t know is whether he’s suicidal enough to follow through. Or just how much control Putin actually is able to maintain over him. In the meantime, we wait, and wonder, and worry.

As private citizens, and not policymakers or lawmakers or military strategists, that’s all we can do. That, and try to make sure that our elected officials are fully cognizant of the true situation, and not blinded by the flattery and outright lies of the bullies who would try to win us over to their side.

We’re already in the lead-up to an election year, you know . . . Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
8/22/23