No. of Recommendations: 20
Let's repeat this again because it's not getting through the first 6 or 7 centimeters of skull: Zelensky lacks the dudes, the guns and the money to push Ivan out of the Ukraine. And he knows that; he admitted as much to Brett Baier last night. Did any of you catch that? Likely not.
Apparently, it is you who is having a problem. Everyone in the world expected Russia to be in Kiev in 3 days and have Ukraine under control in a week. Yet, 3 years later Russia is buying arms from North Korea, they are sending untested North Koreans to become cannon fodder in war, the Ukraine has completely knocked out the vaunted Russian Black Sea fleet, Russian is sending troops who are on crutches to fight in the front line, AND Ukraine actually controls a small amount of Russian territory. Add to that, the best and the brightest young minds in Russia have fled the country.
It turns out that describing Russia as a gas station with nuclear bombs was a pretty accurate.
Further, Russia’s actions have led even more counties, like Norway and Sweden, to join NATO. That’s a really good thing.
The Ukraine has accomplished this without asking for 1 American soldier to fight with them. As Zelensky once stated when we offered to get him and his family out of Ukraine, I don’t want a ticket, I want guns and ammo. And that’s what we’ve sent him. Mind you, besides helping a country retain its freedom, we manufacture all those weapons in the U.S. made by Americans.
Of course Ukraine needs help. But they’ve never asked for our soldiers.
Ukraine also had a security agreement in place at onetime. When they gave up nukes stored in Ukraine, Russia guaranteed they would never invade Ukraine. Turns out Russian guarantees can be trusted as much as American guarantees.
Economic agreements can be a powerful tool. I’d like to see us use them in Cuba, for example. But so far, all the Russians see in economic development is hostages to imprison and trade for criminals.
Russia is near the end of their rope. Russia has to be held in check or they will just keep invading countries to fulfill Putin’s dream of restoring the Russian Empire. Instead of browbeating and trying to humiliate our allies, we should continue to support Ukraine with the weapons they need. It’s an inexpensive way to keep a world war from starting.
It will also allow us to focus, as much is realistic to do, on a much more dangerous adversary, China.
As an undergraduate history major (mainly U.S., although I’ve taken several courses on European, Russian and Chinese history), I believe this is the wisest and safest course of action.