Rubin: U.N. must get tough with Russia, Vladimir Putin

In reality, Putin is aping Adolf Hitler, claiming the neighboring state of Ukraine has no right to exist, because he wants to annex it to Russia. Since hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians are likely to demonstrate against any puppet leader imposed by Moscow, this opens the door for massive civilian casualties, and no one doubts Putin would be ready to inflict them.

So it is critically important for the U.N. General Assembly to demonstrate that a majority of members — not just the West — sees through Putin’s lies. As Ukraine’s ambassador to the United Nations, Sergiy Kyslytsya, said Thursday: “Pretending now that the U.N. can work as if nothing happens will be immoral.”

That immorality was on full view at a Wednesday meeting of the U.N. Security Council as Putin — speaking in Moscow — thumbed his nose at the world body, announcing the invasion was on just as council members were discussing how to prevent it.

Translated: A Russian dictator has the right to remove a president chosen by a free vote of the Ukrainian public — and replace him with a Kremlin-controlled regime. And he can kill as many civilians as he needs to get the deed done.

If the United Nations lets Putin get away with this claim, then the world body might as well declare itself dead. However, there are signs that a broad segment of the U.N.’s member states understands that Putin must not be allowed to get away with murder.

The Kenyan ambassador to the Security Council was quite blunt in a Security Council speech challenging Putin’s dream of restoring the Russian empire. If that were acceptable behavior, Martin Kimani said, then every African country would be at war with its neighbors trying to change borders drawn by former colonial powers.

And other members have surely noted that Putin hinted he was willing to use nuclear weapons against any nation that tries to “interfere” with his invasion, saying this “will lead to the kind of consequences you have never experienced in your entire history.”

So it is time for the introduction of a U.N. General Assembly resolution to suspend Russia until Putin pulls back from Ukraine. Or maybe indefinitely.

If enough U.N. members sign on, even China might recognize that its Russian ally is stabbing it in the back by undercutting Beijing’s sacred mantra that no country has the right to interfere in another country’s sovereign affairs.

To paraphrase Ukraine’s Ambassador Sergiy Kyslytsya: “There should be no purgatory for war criminals. They should go straight to hell.”

Meanwhile, the U.N.’s future is on the line, as is Ukraine’s — and perhaps the world’s.