Ukraine's Weak Response
Three decades to prepare
With Russia’s invasion of Ukraine dominating the news, very little is being reported on the US Trucker convoy making its way to Washington.
With that said, let’s talk about Ukraine in this newsletter.
The big question about Ukraine is about America’s response. Do we respond militarily to Russia’s disregard for the sovereign integrity of another nation? After all, no stopped the United States from invading Iraq, Afghanistan, or Libya, Granada, and Panama in the last forty years. Nor did anyone stop the United States from bombings countries in an effort to destabilized their governments in places like Libya and Serbia.
Then their are the countries that America has obstensibly been invited in to help defend the government from being overthrown (some might say unified) like Vietnam or Korea. The usual tactic is to divide a nation and get one side to ask for help. This what Putin did in Ukraine right now as pro-Russian separatists have asked for Russia’s help and Putin has obliged them. It is similar to how America acquired Texas from Mexico.
If Russia can do it to Ukraine they can do it to any number of neighboring countries. Do we follow Obama/Biden appeasement policy and hope that after first seizing the Crimea, Russia would stop with the separatist portion of Ukraine or even all of Ukraine? At times, the Grand Duchy of Poland or Lithuania have been part of Russia. Do we allow Putin to play this game across Eastern Europe like Chamberlain did with Hitler?
During his presidency, Obama appointed VP Biden as the point person for our dealings with Ukraine during Obama’s second term. Much like Biden put Kamala Harris in charge of our southern border. We all saw how that went. Under Biden’s auspices, billions of US taxpayer money went unaccounted for in aid to Ukraine. The payback system to Biden is well documented with Hunter Biden’s board position on Burisma, a Ukrainian energy company. The very same company that was being investigated by Ukraine’s chief prosecutor until Biden had the prosecutor fired.
The fact is that Ukraine is a corrupt nation that has had more than three decades to position itself to resist Russian aggression. They could have built up their national defense and developed a strong reservist system. But this would be costly. While they have partial done this, their preferred path is to join NATO and have America provide for their defense like many of the nations in NATO.
Translated, they want United States to defend them so that they could continue to spend their money elsewhere with much of it going to enrich Ukrainian oligarchs along with many Democrat elites in America. Some the enriching money was laundered through Franklin Templeton Investments, a major purchaser of Ukrainian bonds with ties to Democrats. You won’t hear this from the main stream media like CNN and MSNBC.
https://www.libertynation.com/ukraine-officials-allege-major-corruption-scandal-with-dnc-linked-company/#:~:text=The%20MPs%20say%20the%20money-laundering%20scheme%20is%20connected,debt%20market%20to%20the%20tune%20of%20%245%20billion.
Ukraine could have elected a leader with military experience to run the nation in preparation for such a conflict with Russia. Instead they elected a stand up comedian as their president. Let the good times roll.
After seizing Crimea, Ukraine needed to prepare for war with Russia. Maintain a vigilant military ready to respond to Russian aggression. And most importantly, to take back the Crimea if Russia did attack. This would put Russia at risk of losing something for their aggression.
Many would say that Ukraine is a smaller nation and could not match the might of the Russians. Finland is a much, much smaller nation than Ukraine, yet in the Winter War of 1940, Finland blunted the Soviet Union’s invasion, preserving their independence. Granted they did lose some territory.
With Western military aid, Ukraine could prevail in preventing the Russians from winning a war much like French aid help America gain its’ independence. Today we must ask ourselves why Ukraine is in this predicament. One answer, the Obama/Biden administration.
Why is it Obama/Biden’s fault for the Russian aggression. Several reasons:
The Obama/Biden administration refused to sell lethal military equipment to Ukraine that would allow them to defend their nation. Trump allowed such lethal military sales to Ukraine. Lethal military hardware means weapons that are used to kill your enemy. Shortly after his election as president, Biden froze lethal military equipment sales to Ukraine. While the Mainstream Media will argue that he Obama/Biden administration did send military aid, it just was not lethal aid like the Javelin anti-tank missiles sent under Trump. The aid Obama/Biden sent were non-lethal medical kits, Humvees, goggles, etc.
https://thehill.com/policy/international/365906-trump-administration-approves-lethal-arms-sales-to-ukraine
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trump-admin-approves-sale-anti-tank-weapons-ukraine/story?id=65989898
https://news.yahoo.com/biden-freezes-military-aid-ukraine-213600430.html?fr=sycsrp_catchall
Under Trump world energy prices were low and this lowered Russia’s oil and gas revenues. Biden’s policies quickly reduced America’s energy independence leading to higher energy costs. One example is that Biden stopped the Keystone pipeline in America while at the same time approving the Russia to Germany Nord Stream 2 pipeline. Such energy policies have made Europe more dependent on Russia energy and less likely to rebuke Putin’s aggression. Increasing energy prices have filled Russia’s coffers financing an invasion of Ukraine.
It should be noted that today, 41% of Europe’s gas comes from Russia. Europe was not always dependent on Russian energy until the North Sea reserves dried up and Europe embarked on a green policy and began shutting down it nuclear reactors.
Putin views the US as a weak as do the Chinese. Our withdrawal from Afghanistan was a disaster. The woke military of both the United States and its NATO allies is not respected by either the Russians nor the Chinese. Russia and China both are focused on winning wars and not promoting diversity. Here is a comparison of a Chinese recruiting video vs Russian vs American.
Which of these militaries would you want to defend your nation? Better yet, which of these militaries would you rather not face?
Under Biden, the Russians know that Biden is a weak, feeble, and at times, an incoherent leader. The worst action that Biden would take would be to impose the same ineffective sanctions the Russians have easily endured. It is not a coincidence that Putin waited until after the Winter Olympics.
Thanks to the aforementioned energy sales, Russia is prepared for sanctions that block their energy sales. The real question is not how long Russia can last, rather it is how long can Europe last without Russian energy? A few months? A few weeks? It all depends on how quickly the rest of the world can step up to fill the gap. It is European and American consumers that will pay the price in higher energy prices for the foreseeable future.
Under Obama, Russia seized Crimea from Ukraine and all the United States did was impose sanctions. Sanctions that the Russians consider insignificant. Mostly travel and financial. The travel sanctions do little to affect the targets who rarely need to leave Russia, a vast country. As for the financial sanctions those are just moving Russia and China away from the US Dollar as the world’s currency hastening our own financial demise. Again, this hurts Americans more than Russians.
America is deeply in debt. We currently have $30 trillion in national debt and are ill prepared to weather financial storms. Even a minor rise in interest rates will devastate the federal budget. With inflation on the rise, increased costs will have far reaching consequences and limit Biden’s options. Economic sanctions won’t last as they cut both ways.
What can or should the world do with regards to the Russian invasion of Ukraine? Prior to the invasion, speaking softly and carrying a big stick might have worked. At this point the time for diplomacy has passed. Now the only thing that can save Ukraine are the Ukrainians themselves. Much as the Soviet Union fought the Nazis with their backs against the wall, Ukrainians need to fight like cornered dogs until the world can supply it with the lethal weaponry and training needed to win.
Where is the United Nations in all of this? What has the UN accomplished in its seventy two years? Not much as far as keeping the peace. Do we really need it? America covers 22% of the UN annual budget. Time to end the United Nations.
And what of NATO. It was not NATO’s responsibility to defend Ukraine. But Ukraine’s persistence in joining was a cause of concern for Russia. And with the fall of the Soviet Union more than thirty years ago, is NATO really relevant.
It is time for new leaders to rethink our role in world affairs. Certainly not people like the Squad currently serving in Congress. I do not favor Americans dying in Ukraine as the Ukrainian leaders were too corrupt and the people too caught up in hedonism to save themselves. But I do think we could have helped the Ukrainians better prepare for such aggression while leaving the fight to them. Those that are not willing to fight for freedom are not worthy of such liberty. Perhaps America is heading in the same direction.
It should be noted that the world was a more peaceful under Trump than any president going back to pre Roosevelt:
Roosevelt lead us into WWII
Truman lead us into Korea
Eisenhower finished the Korean War and started America on the road to Vietnam
Kennedy/Johnson lead us into Vietnam
Nixon/Ford lead us out of Vietnam resulting in a N. Vietnam victory.
Carter had the US Embassy overrun by Iran and failed like everyone else at Middle East peace. Iran has been an exporter of terrorism since.
Reagan/Bush lead us into Granada and there was the failed peacekeeping in Lebanon that resulted in the Marine barracks being bombed.
Clinton bombed Iraq, Afghanistan, and Sudan and lead us into the disintegrating Yugoslavia war.
Bush Jr. lead us into Afghanistan and Iraq.
Obama destabilized Libya and started a civil war in Syria. In all, he launched airstrikes or military raids in at least seven countries: Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Libya, Yemen, Somalia and Pakistan. Granted the Pakistani raid netted Osama bin Laden. Lost Crimea to the Russians. N. Korea tested ballistic missiles.
Trump, aside from reducing the military in Afghanistan and setting the groundwork for withdrawal, only fired off some cruise missiles after Syria used chemical weapons. Trump also persuaded N. Korea to stop testing ballistic missiles.
In a little over just one year, Biden lead the woeful withdrawal from Afghanistan resulting in a Taliban victory and now is dealing with Russian aggression in Ukraine. Right after his inauguration, N. Korea began testing ballistic missiles again.
The world indeed was a more peace world with Trump in the White House. It is hard for someone to argue otherwise. Biden has talked the talk. He wanted to take Trump out back of the school gym in a veiled reference to a street fight. Biden claims he has been standing up to Bullies his whole life.
Biden reminds me of that little pip squeak who talks a tough game, but gets his butt kicked every time. Even after losing, he continues to talk like he won the fight. According to the White House, the Afghanistan withdrawal was success. Ask the family blown to smithereens in Biden’s attempt to look tough in our response to the air base attack. They will say that it was Biden who was the real Bully.
https://www.cnn.com/2021/08/29/asia/afghanistan-kabul-evacuation-intl/index.html
Biden is not the leader that Trump was and Biden continues his tough talk over Ukraine, but fails to walk the talk. Neither Russia nor the Chinese respect him, nevertheless world leaders do like Biden. Whereas the world leaders did not like Trump, at least they respected him. Personally, I would take respect over like any day of the week. Unfortunately, for not just America, but the whole world, we must endure Biden’s incompetency for three more years. Or at least until the Democrats figure out how to replace him without VP Kamala Harris ascending to the throne.
Prepare yourselves for Invasion II coming soon as China seizes Taiwan.