Their weak position

Sen. Tom Cotton, I trust your judgment as a leader. However, I am disappointed that you could not stand with the other minority of GOP senators (along with John Boozman) voting against the most recent bill that will fuel the continuing escalation of the war in Ukraine.

I am concerned that our undefined poorly executed strategy takes us closer to war. And we know that a good portion of our weapons sent to Ukraine through Poland have been destroyed by Russian bombardment in the western part of the country, and we also know that accountability for weapons is low, and effective deployment of those weapons is in question.

It is time to stop the madness of our hubris and incompetence which has brought widespread destruction to people. We now know that we are in a proxy war with Russia using Ukraine as a buffer, and it is not going well. The people of Ukraine are paying a terrible price for our out-ofcontrol geopolitical ambitions.

You are a respected and experienced leader; however, I am surprised that you follow the lead of President Joe Biden, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Victoria Nuland and the weakness of their position.

It will take leaders with moral courage to stand up and stop this runaway freight train before we pass the point of no return.

In time, Russia will secure the two eastern provinces, keep the land bridge and solidify its gains.

Russia will not be defeated in this invasion and will also pay a price for its actions.

The only question is whether we will use our considerable but declining strength as a country to influence events toward ending the war, or keep poking the Russian bear in the eye and overtly offending China with our misguided actions.

In these times, we will have adversaries, but we should be careful who we have as enemies.

We are all sitting in the front-row seats of a movie with a plot that is unfolding in front of our eyes in real time that will not have a happy ending.

RON MAINES Rogers