NOW Putin Has Done It: The International Cat Federation Has Banned Russia From All Competitions
Sasha Mordovets. Getty Images.Without a doubt, the biggest issue facing the world right now is what to do when faced with a tyrant who is not only acting as aggressively and violently as Vladimir Putin is right now, but as irrationally as he is. There's so little logic in declaring this war with Ukraine that it makes it hard to see what his endgame is. What he envisions as a successful outcome where his country is better off than it was a few weeks ago is so unclear as to make the situation totally uncertain, and therefore terrifying.
Which makes the question of how to deal with Russia in such a way as to deescalate the situation so vital. Dan Carlin made a great point a while back about WWII, where the conventional wisdom today is that the West allowed Hitler's aggression by appeasing him. But that same wisdom says the West provoked Japan's attacks by being too harsh on them with oil embargos and other policies. So how do countries who desire peace hit that narrow Goldilocks "just right" sweet spot between being too soft and too hard in their dealings with Putin, in order to calm things down.
Featured on Barstool
The world has tried sanctions. They've cut Russia off from certain financial institutions. NATO countries are pledging to increase their defense budgets. They're arming the Ukrainian resistance forces. They've stripped Putin of his Taekwondo black belt. None of it has slowed Russian aggression.
But that might just be because we haven't heard from the crazy cat people. Until now.
Source - The International Cat Federation says it has banned Russian cats from its international competitions in the latest rebuke to Russia since it invaded Ukraine last week.
The federation, which considers itself “the United Nations of Cat Federations,” said in a statement that it was “shocked and horrified” that Russian forces had invaded Ukraine and “started a war.” …
It said the rule would remain in place until the end of May and would then be reviewed.
We can all feel bad for the cats, who are just innocent victims in all this. I'm sure these competitors want no part of an illegal and immoral attack on their neighboring country. They'd rather just sleep 23 hours a day and scratch up the furniture and eat and poop like any cat. They don't want to see people die. They want to just ignore humans until they want to get fed. That's the cat way.
But sacrifices have to be made. We can't be rewarding these policies by letting the Russians use international cat competitions as a propaganda tool. Imagine what it would be like for the Eastern European kitties having to walk the runway and be reminded of the horrors Putin is inflicting in the region? It's too much to allow. So we should be proud the ICF is taking this harsh stance.
And hopefully it'll have the intended effect. We saw first hand in the Olympics just how far the Russians are willing to go to get the sort of public relations boost that comes from winning on the world stage. So much so they'll pump PEDs into a 15-year-old figure skater and couldn't even be allowed to compete under their own flag. Imagine the humiliation Putin will feel when his nation's pets aren't allowed to dress up like little pirates and gladiators.
Whether this move from the ICF helps Putin see the error of his ways or just sparks more anger, remains to be seen. Whether this ban stops the war or just makes things worse is for history to decide. But credit where it's due to the cat people for taking the tough moral stand. Peace.