Ukraine’s president is fighting for freedom
As Dave Meserve wrote on March 11, 2023, it is time to end the Russian invasion of Ukraine, but his solution is a bit askew.
He claims Zelensky is our “pawn” and that we should “allow” and “encourage” negotiations. He insists that his opinions do not make him a “Putin lover” because, after all, “He (Putin) did mount a brutal invasion of Ukraine.” Thank you for that.
It WAS an unprovoked attack. It’s easy and fun to pick a few examples for a limited format and forget opposing data. So I’ll have fun, too. Even with the loss of Ukraine and smaller states, Russia has 11 time zones and is the largest nation, by landmass, on Earth.
Amazingly, despite their immense borders, there never seem to be masses of immigrants crashing the gates to be part of the Russian Dream, despite their renowned architecture, art, and literature. We all know what happens to those who protest Putin. Ask Navalny.
Why NATO? Check out the Winter War of 1939-40 between Finland and Russia. The famous Finn Puuko fighting knives were honed to perfection by Finnish patriots jiggling jugulars of Russian commandos in the forests and mountains on the border.
The Russians were seizing a neighbor’s territory, just like now. Wow. Finland is not a large country to begin with. They sued for peace and wound up losing more land negotiating than was lost to war. With Russia, it takes a pillage. Still the Finns did not join NATO, hoping to appease Russia and John Mearsheimer. They found out the error of that assumption a year ago and immediately applied for NATO membership. They were not alone.
Young folks can also “search” the Iron Curtain, the Berlin Airlift, the Hungarian Revolt of 1956, and on from there. Check out Russian “aid” in Syria. There is ample reason for the existence of NATO. Mearsheimer thinks “democracy promotion” is bad because it irritates Vlad. Read his 2014 polemic on Ukraine. Best thing I ever got from Chomsky is a name for my garden statue: Gnome Chomsky. Pat Buchanan is one of the most jovial and congenial racists and general purpose bigots you could meet. Mr. Meserve keeps some strange intellectual birds to flock with.
I am within a year of Dave’s age. My parents bought me a bracelet ID since it might survive a nuclear attack better than a necklace tag like the other kids. I experienced all the national traumas that Dave did. The Cuban Missile Crisis involved an Irish-American Catholic and a Slavic atheist. Both had the heart and the will to avoid mutual annihilation. Could we do it again? Candidate Trump called Putin a “genius.” I don’t know.
The Vietnam War was an unmitigated disaster. They didn’t want American democracy. When I was in the Seventh Fleet, I spoke with sailors from the USS Maddox and Turner Joy. The Tonkin Gulf Resolution was a phony excuse for LBJ to invade Vietnam. The nearly 20-year effort to free Afghan women and “infidels” was defeated by religious fanatics.
Finally, we have a nation, Ukraine, that is firmly in line with Western Democracy. They could have voted themselves back into the Russian Federation, but they did not. Zelensky is a brave leader and they are fighting and dying for their freedom and ours, in the long run. Let’s help them. If Putin pulls this off, it will not be the end. Are we to be at the mercy of any psychopath who has nuclear weapons to wave?