Support for Ukraine

Regarding the national defense, a recent letter-writer concludes that it’s being hurt by our support for Ukraine. If indeed the Army is way below its recruitment quotas, we should welcome another country doing the dirty work for us against Russia’s Vladimir Putin, who is a threat to world peace. And as to China, what better way to deter them from messing with Taiwan than by showing our resolve for Ukraine?

A former Department of Defense adviser he did not name supposedly said that the U.S. could not fight its way out of a paper bag. What? Just think of what Ukraine could be doing to Russia if it had even more of our weapons.

The writer digresses to mention the Pentagon spending $3 billion for climate-change preparedness (mainly for installation resiliency and preparedness), and goes on to criticize overall spending by Joe Biden (to help avoid looming climate disaster), even though the secretary of Defense has said the climate crisis is a profoundly destabilizing force for the world. One need look no further than the drought in Syria that drove farmers to the cities, causing civil unrest, ultimately with awful consequences, among them the creation of havens for terrorists.

What’s the greater threat to our national security, our support for Ukraine or right-wing Trumpists’ support of Putin? In the showdown prior to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Tucker Carlson was asking if it was wrong to be on Putin’s side and was saying “it is not un-American” to support Putin. Well, now, once again, some of these same people may be trying to undermine U.S. support for Ukraine.

DOUG SKOKOS Fort Smith