(Photo from Pixlok)
hubris (noun) excessive pride or self-confidence
We’re all standing at the precipice of a potential hot world war. Sometimes the first reasonable action to take is simply pausing business as usual to focus on the events at hand.
Things get unexpectedly exposed to the light of day when events move at such a dizzying pace.
Worldwide, humanity has been laggard about weaning ourselves from fossil fuels. It’s so easy to carry on using what we are accustomed to using, and such a bother to change… Russia is one of the world’s biggest producers of oil and natural gas. Now countries that rely heavily on oil and gas face a painful economic price for standing up against Russia’s invasion of a neighbor. Those that depend directly on Russian petro exports have to find alternative suppliers. Those that already rely mostly on other suppliers have to absorb the price shock that is already hitting global markets.
(Perhaps the solar system installers I’ve been collecting proposals from now understand why I’ve been telling them that our primary interest in getting a system isn’t how quickly the investment will pay for itself. Our interest is energy security. All but one of them has given me an uncomprehending look when I say that.)
Countries closed airspace to Russian aircraft so fast I lost track of who did it when.
National teams refuse to play Russia in the soccer World Cup 2022 qualifying matches: first Poland, then Sweden and the Czech Republic, then others. FIFA is under pressure to kick Russia out of the World Cup. Formula One pulled out of Russia. Eurovision won’t allow Russia to compete. RT and Sputnik channels are blocked in the EU. Federal Express and UPS pulled out of Russia. BP is stepping back to the extent that it can, including dropping its 19.75% stake in Russian oil company Rosneft.
I’m sure there are more such refusals and cancellations that I haven’t listed.
The hacking group Anonymous took down the RT and Kremlin websites, then went after Belarus for facilitating the invasion. They put Ukrainian songs on Russian television broadcasts. Again, I think there is more than this list.
Several countries are shipping weapons and supplies to Ukraine, carefully not engaging against Russia militarily themselves but providing materials Ukraine needs for defense. Germany has decided to greatly increase its military budget. NATO, including the USA, increased military presence in member countries closest to Russia.
Protests quickly erupted around the world, even in Russia where the government treats any opposition very harshly.
Google, Facebook, YouTube and Twitter clamped down on Russian advertising. Google blocked Russian channels from earning money from their advertisements. YouTube “demonetized” its Russian channels.
The value of the ruble is falling through the floor.
Then, of course, there are the ever-growing sanctions being imposed by nation after nation. That’s complicated. Remember that we are in a global money war. Russian money has woven itself into the fabric of entire countries. In such countries, to impose sanctions on Russia, a country must hurt itself, so the fact that it is happening attests to the amount of pressure from the public against the invasion.
Russia’s invasion is not going according to plan. Ukraine did not kneel down and accept subjugation. Putin is threatening to play his nuclear card, yet still Ukraine fights back and most of the rest of the world either sends in support or stands back instead of cheering for Russia. Putin thought he could do anything he wants. Nobody did anything substantial after any of his other ventures to disrupt other countries. He thought limits don’t apply to him. There are still limits after all.
The word for that is hubris. We are focused on his, but hubris elsewhere is being unveiled too.
We could start with Google, Facebook, YouTube and Twitter. All four have ignored years of outcry over their willingness to serve as a breeding ground for extremism so long as it makes money for them. Facebook in particular was heavily used by Russian groups for their interference in elections. It took the brink of a hot world war to get them to step back at all.
Governments are showing their character, too.
The UK and USA have been major centers for the flow of Russian money. On one hand, that funnels a large proportion of the money flow through two countries, which ought to make it easier to track down the assets that are now sanctioned. But on the other hand, that money has bought key players in both countries, and they will do what they can to protect their money and positions.
In the USA, the political party Russia targeted does not currently control the federal government. Biden is skilled in the art of international politics and has helped pull together a remarkably cohesive, remarkably rapid international response to Russia’s transgression. He has not bullied or tricked other countries into acting. For the most part it has been a matter of sharing information with them. In some instances other countries have acted on that information more strongly than any highhanded dictat could have attempted. It would be a very different story if the deeply compromised GOP still controlled the White House.
In the UK, the party Russia most deeply entangled controls the government. In some circles, London is even referred to as Londongrad. Small wonder that the British response has been big in words, and so far little in actions. When the EU announced sanctions against over 350 Russian entities, the UK sanctioned 5 of the least consequential banks and 3 oligarchs, mostly from a longer list the USA sanctioned in 2018. Where the EU will take in refugees from Ukraine without the usual bureaucratic burden for up to three years, the UK took longer to get around to reluctantly saying it will accept immediate family members of people already settled in the UK. Need to bring grandparents? Nope, they are not immediate family. Maybe they could apply for seasonal visas to pick fruit?
The gap between government rhetoric and action is stark. It would not sit well at any time, but especially in the midst of multiple scandals such as revelations of government partying during pandemic lockdowns and billions in taxpayer funds wasted on contracts to Tory favorites whose companies provided inferior, poorly functioning or non-functional pandemic equipment or services.
Hubris is a frequent theme in Greek tragedy for good reason. It happens a lot in real life. Eventually it goes too far and the arrogant prideful person or business or country falls.
Ukraine has already inspired many countries to step up and do exactly the reverse of what Putin wanted. The West’s bulwarks have now been reinforced to the east, closest to Russia, and a couple of countries that weren’t fully part of those bulwarks are stepping into them. Russia may overrun Ukraine, but I am reminded of the Confederates winning at Chickamauga and thereby losing the Civil War in the USA.
Hubris. It may feel exhilarating in the short run, but in the long run it bites. What goes around, comes around.
Let’s not be Putin. If we want a model, let’s be Ukraine.