The Ukraine war is far more than a ‘dispute’
Any Republican eyeing a 2024 run for the White House faces a monumental task: appealing to former Trump voters without alienating anti-Trump Republicans and, eventually, independents.
On the domestic front, with most folks feeling the pinch of a struggling economy, President Joe Biden has made it alarmingly easy for any GOP opponent to propose stronger and more rational policies. Almost anything makes more sense than the current financial chaos.
In foreign affairs, however, Republican candidates face a more difficult challenge, and some say Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has already blown it.
For many of those already paying attention to the 2024 presidential sweepstakes, Gov. DeSantis’s dismissive phrase for Russia’s murderous invasion of Ukraine — a “territorial dispute” — was a shocking affront.
Yes, Russia has disputed Ukraine’s post-Cold War borders for about thirty years, and it annexed Crimea nine years ago, but the minute its army invaded Ukraine this ceased to be a “dispute.”
After a year of Russian soldiers targeting civilians — raping, torturing and murdering them — the word “dispute” should never have crossed Mr. DeSantis’s lips, much less figured in his written answer to a Fox News host’s question.
While support for American aid to Ukraine is waning a bit, more among Republican voters than Democrats, reactions from Republican stalwarts were strong.
George Will, the elder statesman of conservative pundits, declared, “If that is [DeSantis’s] settled view … then he is not fit to be president, period.” The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board took him to task at considerable length and pined for a GOP candidate who’d embrace Ronald Reagan’s wise “peace through strength” approach.
This clash has had some real staying power — and it should. Tweeted out almost two weeks ago, Mr. DeSantis’s emotionally tonedeaf words are still drawing fire, but his analysis is getting support from unlikely sources.
Plenty of fire came from likely GOP primary opponents. Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley said, “If we lose this war, we need to take dictators at their word. They said Poland and the Baltics are next, and you’re looking at a world war.”
Former Vice President Mike Pence warned that “if Putin is not stopped …, he will continue to move toward our NATO allies, and America would then be called upon to send our own.”
But others believe Mr. DeSantis’s detached analysis brings a welcome dose of realism to the free world’s understandable horror and fear.
Mario Loyola, a former defense policy adviser at the Pentagon and the U.S. Senate, published an excellent essay Wednesday in The Atlantic that explores the post-war history of Russia and Ukraine, their shifting borders and possible outcomes of the year-long war. Mr. Loyola and others elsewhere raise important questions:
What long-term national interests (not short-term political goals) are at stake for the U.S. and for Europe? How are those different? Is massive military aid unwisely escalating the war?
Would a humiliating loss drive Russia into China’s arms? Would that bode greater ill for the world?
Does Ukraine really want all its territory back — even the area overwhelmingly inhabited by ethnic Russians? Is that good for its long-term stability and independence? Would reconquering this territory provide leverage for negotiations?
What negotiated solution would be acceptable to all?
Peace is desirable, though not peace at any cost, not the peace of tyranny. We must never lose sight of the fact that the Ukrainians have already suffered unspeakable loss at the hands of a tyrant.
Next Sunday — Palm Sunday — Rev. Bogdan Kulitskiy and his family will be visiting Pittsburgh, far from their home near Kyiv, where they are part of a sprawling church network that feeds and shelters thousands of those displaced by the war. At First Presbyterian Church of Pittsburgh, one of their main centers of support, they will speak of the suffering they’ve witnessed but also of the amazing impact American help is making to war refugees.
That relationship flourishes far from the political realm, and maybe it’s foolish to summon optimism in America’s toxic political atmosphere, but here goes:
Perhaps Gov. DeSantis’s mix of emotional gaffe and strategic daring have ignited a public conversation that produces viable strategies to achieve liberty and peace for Ukraine.
The governor should certainly hire some aides and proofreaders with the empathy skills he lacks, for his own good — but it’s to everyone’s good if we hash out now, rather than in October 2024, how we can best help Ukraine.