Alignments of Forces

In the Ukraine war, both sides have allies. The Ukrainians have many democracies, led by the United States (for now). Putin’s Kremlin has China, Iran, North Korea, and so on. Here is a news bulletin, from RFE/RL:

The United States says it has information indicating that North Korea has delivered more than 1,000 containers of military equipment and munitions in recent weeks to Russia for use in Ukraine.

One more paragraph:

White House national-security spokesman John Kirby told reporters on October 13 that the United States believes North Korea provided the arms in hopes of obtaining sophisticated Russian weapons technologies in return in order to boost Pyongyang’s nuclear program.

This ought to concentrate the mind — if the mind is not yet concentrated.

• If Russia, North Korea, China, Iran, et al. are in alliance — you will certainly find Cuba. Note this headline: “Russia is recruiting hundreds of Cubans as cannon fodder for its war on Ukraine.” (Article here.)

• This was encouraging, I thought:

The US will transfer thousands of seized Iranian weapons and rounds of ammunition to Ukraine, in a move that could help to alleviate some of the critical shortages facing the Ukrainian military as it awaits more money and equipment from the US and its allies, US officials said.

For that report, go here.

• Again, encouraging: “Belgium Plans $1.8 Billion Ukraine Fund Using Taxes on Frozen Russian Assets.” That is the headline over a story in the Wall Street Journal.

• Under no illusions about what is at stake — none whatsoever — are the Balts. Here is the Lithuanian foreign minister:

• A righteous Brit:

• Something else to note:

• Russia invaded Ukraine in order to re-subjugate it. Putin and his underlings have been frank about this. And yet, some persist in seeing this as a “border dispute,” or, as Ron DeSantis put it, a “territorial dispute.” Here is some more DeSantis talk: “I wish the D.C. elites cared as much about our border as they care about the Ukraine–Russia border.”

And here is Elon Musk:

Musk is the richest man in the world, and one of the most powerful. This must make a significant difference in what people think, what they drink in, what they believe.

Ukrainians must contend with this sort of thing, as well as the Russian military.

• Vivek Ramaswamy is a star of American populism. In the recent Republican presidential debate, he said, “Just because Putin is an evil dictator does not mean that Ukraine is good.”

That’s interesting: “good.” Ukraine is a nation that has been invaded and is enduring mass murder, mass rape, mass torture, mass kidnapping, etc. The Ukrainians are fighting for their very right to exist.

Consider: In September 1939, was Poland “good”? Had Czechoslovakia been “good”? Were the Baltic states “good”? France? Holland? Norway? You get the picture.

An expansionist dictator, Putin, has invaded a sovereign nation (and U.S. ally), Ukraine. This is important. Important to the Ukrainians, chiefly — but to the rest of us as well.

• Senator Mike Lee (R., Utah) tweets as “BasedMikeLee.” One way to think of “based” is: alt-Right talk for “cool” or “with it.” The based senator loves to sock it to the Ukrainians. For instance:

Lee added, “Brought to you by the Military Industrial Complex.™”

The other Utah senator is very, very different in his outlook and understanding:

But you know what’s interesting? This is how Mike Lee talked in February 2022, after Putin launched his all-out assault:

• Daniel Hannan wrote a painful, and pained, column that ended like this:

If you had told me 10 years ago that a Russian tyrant would be basing his hope for victory in an aggressive war on the election of a Republican administration, I’d have laughed. How far my favorite party has fallen.