🧵 @NewStatesman asked me to look back on the past year.
2022 has made the face of Russian occupation and war crimes visible to the whole world. It's also made clear why giving anything to the aggressor and seeking premature peace is dangerous. 1/
📎https://www.newstatesman.com/world/europe/2022/12/estonia-support-ukraine-russian-imperialism
🐦🔗: https://n.respublicae.eu/kajakallas/status/1600758907479392256
Why is Russia waging genocidal war against Ukraine?
My response: look at history. Soviet Union fell, its imperialism never did. Stalinism returned. Use of force continued, against Moldova, Georgia, Crimea, Donbas.
Russia's full-scale war shouldn't have come as a surprise. 2/
🐦🔗: https://n.respublicae.eu/kajakallas/status/1600758909563998208
This past year also proved the power of public opinion and how, in democracies, the people can bring about governmental U-turns.
A year ago, who would have thought that Ukraine would be EU candidate country and that Sweden and Finland would be on their way to NATO? 4/
🐦🔗: https://n.respublicae.eu/kajakallas/status/1600758916425871365
Leadership also matters. We have seen governments making decisions, even when they do not necessarily have popular support, but because it is the right action to take. Be it providing military aid, strengthening sanctions or making decisions in support of collective defence. 5/
🐦🔗: https://n.respublicae.eu/kajakallas/status/1600758919831617536
My hope for 2023 is that we'll have moral clarity and courage to end Russia’s genocidal war.
If we don't, the cost will be much higher than elevated energy prices.
This is why I'll take my motto for 2022 into 2023: gas and oil might be expensive, but freedom is priceless. 6/
🐦🔗: https://n.respublicae.eu/kajakallas/status/1600758923166093315
We have been on right track with our support to Ukraine. But we must step it up until the last Russian soldier has left Ukraine.
We must make sure war criminals are held accountable.
Our response will be studied by all the dictators and would-be dictators across the globe. 3/
🐦🔗: https://n.respublicae.eu/kajakallas/status/1600758913573433344