Volodymyr Zelensky, for one, thinks the war in Ukraine involves something bigger than Ukraine. The “entire European project is a target for Russia,” he said. Therefore, “it is not just the moral duty of all democracies” to assist Ukraine. It is “a strategy of defense for every civilized state.”
People may recognize this as true, not long from now.
Zelensky further said, “Freedom does not have time to wait. When tyranny begins its aggression against everything that keeps the peace in Europe, action must be taken immediately.”
I believe he is right.
• Boris Johnson traveled to Kyiv and walked the streets with President Zelensky. This was a show of solidarity. Merely showing up, being present, can help people who are under siege: who are being murdered, displaced, maimed, raped. People need to know they are not alone. That they have not been forgotten.
• The Kyiv Post reports,
Ukraine on Thursday accused its neighbour, Kremlin-ally Hungary, of appeasing Russian aggression and disrupting EU unity following a telephone call between the Hungarian and Russian leaders. . . .
Putin congratulated Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban after his party won a fourth term in general elections last week.
Yes.
The two leaders spoke again Wednesday and Orban told Putin that Hungary would be prepared to pay Russia in rubles for gas imports.
Yes.
In his Election Night speech, the Hungarian chief cited Zelensky, among the opponents he had overcome: “This victory will be remembered for the rest of our lives because so many people ganged up on us, including the Left at home, the international Left everywhere, the bureaucrats in Brussels, all the funds and organizations of the Soros empire, the foreign media, and, in the end, even the Ukrainian president.”
Hungary forbids the transfer of arms to Ukraine through Hungarian territory.
• On Thursday evening, the U.S. House voted on a non-binding resolution. “Resolved,” said the resolution, that “the House of Representatives” . . . does what?
(1) reaffirms its unequivocal support for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) as an alliance founded on democratic principles;
(2) urges NATO to continue to provide unwavering support to the people of Ukraine as they fight for their sovereignty, territorial integrity, and a democratic future;
(3) calls on the President to use the voice and vote of the United States to adopt a new Strategic Concept for NATO that is clear about its support for shared democratic values and committed to enhancing NATO’s capacity to strengthen democratic institutions within NATO member, partner, and aspirant countries; and
(4) calls on the President to use the voice and vote of the United States to establish a Center for Democratic Resilience within NATO headquarters.
As The Hill reported, “The resolution passed 362 to 63, with all 63 no votes coming from Republicans.”
Tweeted Daniel Hannan,
I was pretty sceptical of NATO myself 20 years ago. It seemed to me to have done its job in 1990, and to have been blundering around ever since in search of a role. But it is odd to see this mood among US Republicans just when NATO is proving its worth.
I myself observed,
If you had said to me, “One day, there will be a congressional resolution in support of NATO and the bolstering of democracy, and 63 members of the House, all of one party, will vote against it,” I would have bet every dime I could find on the Democrats. What a strange trip.
Someone with the handle “Populist Lobbyist” responded,
This is an interesting part of how the “old right” thinks. NATO doesn’t make any sense in the context of today’s world.
If Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, and other NATO members weren’t in the alliance, do you think they would be vulnerable to what the Ukrainians are facing right now? Invasion? Brutalization? You might want to ask them.
• I hear that the Ukrainian government, along with Ukrainian society, is “woke.” I also hear they are “Nazi.” Interesting to be woke and Nazi at the same time. Any epithet will do, evidently.
Madison Cawthorn, the Republican congressman: “Zelensky is a thug. Remember that the Ukrainian government is incredibly corrupt and is incredibly evil and has been pushing woke ideologies.”
Marjorie Taylor Greene, another Republican House member, opposing aid to Ukraine: “You have to ask, is this money and is this United States military equipment falling into the hands of Nazis in Ukraine?”
Back to wokeness, from Matt Gaetz, another Republican, opposing the Magnitsky Act: “Empowering the Biden Administration to use ‘human rights’ as a weapon of global wokeness is a flawed strategy to defeat Russia or anyone else.”
Wokeness has become jokeness, in the mouths of many.
• Cawthorn said “incredibly corrupt,” along with “incredibly evil.” Ukraine indeed has had problems with corruption. They gained independence in 1991, after decades of Soviet Communism. Their growing pains have been obvious, and they have made great strides — also obvious, to those willing to see. In any event, is corruption not a strange topic of discussion when a country is trying to fight off invasion? Fighting for its very life? Its very right to exist?
At Politico, Jacob Heilbrunn published an article headed “Trumpian Conservatives Hold an ‘Emergency’ Meeting Over Russia.” “At a Washington Marriott,” said the subheading, “the nationalist wing of the Republican Party wrestles with what Putin’s war means for their movement.”
One of the participants said, “Ukraine is a corrupt country. Come and get me.”
If corruption is their concern — rather than, say, nationhood, independence, sovereignty, peace, freedom — wait until these guys hear about Russia, among other countries. There have been many books written on the subject. Vladimir Putin may well be the richest person in the world.
• How does a “biolabs” theory get into the mainstream of the U.S. media? The mainstream of American politics? How is it that the name “Victoria Nuland” is suddenly on the lips of many everyday Americans? This article, from the Anti-Defamation League, explains. Fascinating.
• In a conversation with me, Eliot A. Cohen said, “We’re seeing in about as stark a way as we’ve seen since World War II what it means for a free people to fight for their very existence and for freedom, and that should inspire us profoundly.”
But does it? It inspires some and not others, right?
Said Cohen, “If they fail or go under because we’re not willing to support them — I mean, help them defend themselves — it is a terrible blow to who we are and what we think we’re about in the world.”
And yet Americans don’t agree on who we are or what we’re about in the world — do we? I mean, not by a long shot.
“Conversely,” said Cohen, “if they’re successful — as I hope they will be, and tend to think they will be — it is a tremendous victory for the very principles on which this country was founded.”
I think so. And I once would have been confident that this was a majority view — a well-nigh universal view. Today, I don’t know.
• Scott Pelley of 60 Minutes went to Kyiv last week to interview Zelensky. Pelley asked what Zelensky had seen in Bucha. “Death,” said Zelensky. “Just death.”
“What must the world understand?” Pelley asked. Zelensky answered, “We are defending the right to live. I never thought this right was so costly. These are human values. So that Russia doesn’t choose what we should do and how I’m using my rights. That right was given to me by God and my parents.”
• A man named Kyro Maseh is a pharmacist and pharmacy owner in Toronto. He tweeted,
There’s a young Syrian man that came to Canada as a refugee in my neighborhood. I watched him struggle to get accustomed to living here, get an education & a job. Yesterday he dropped by the pharmacy
Him: still collecting donations for Ukrainian refugees?
Me: yes
Him: here’s $100
Humanity.
• A friend of mine, born in Ukraine, sent me this video. Pink Floyd. They have done a song, in support of Ukraine. I think people do what they can, many of them. They want to assert their humanity, somehow, and try to help people who are being ravaged by evil. One can feel helpless. In any event, I don’t know anything about Pink Floyd — I know they’re a big deal, and had an album called “The Wall” — but I salute them, and all others, doing whatever they can, not excluding the act of praying.