Putins in the ranks

The invasion of Ukraine urgently reminds us of the value of laws, whether for international trade deals or vaccine mandates.

- JANE CLIFTON

It was tempting to respond to the Government’s hoopla about the free trade break-through between New Zealand and Britain with a query about where the rest of the deal was.

It clears roadblocks over the next decade or so, making access easier for our exporters, and no one’s going to sneer at greater availability of British whisky, gin and Jaguars. Still, on their side, the deal makes no economic difference, and on ours, “handy” and “painless” are the boldest adjectives that can fairly be summoned.

However, the alleged vacuum-bombing of Ukraine by Russia lent an urgent perspective to the agreement. In so brutally refusing to do orderly deals – on trade or anything much else – Russia reminds us why we should be exultant about even an agreement as beige as this one. Sure, it nowhere near restores New Zealand to the decades when it was Britain’s well-paid southern larder, and one of world’s wealthiest countries as a result. But unlike Russia, we have accepted that the past is not a template that can be enforced in perpetuity.

This carnage is not happening solely because President Vladimir Putin fears his appendage will drop off if he doesn’t keep reminding the world of his machismo, but because he believes territory once under Russia’s dominion should always be so. Accordingly, he’s not using his opulent social-distancing table for talks about optimising mutually beneficial trade with resource-rich Ukraine. He’s out to annex it the old-fashioned way, with troops and bombs.