Ukraine and Us

In a previous post, I wrote of Ukraine’s allies — allies other than the United States. Is their support, absent American support, enough to keep Ukraine going? Enough to give Ukraine a fighting chance? The question may soon be put to the test.

Prominent among Ukraine’s allies is Great Britain. A report in the New York Times is headed “‘No Time to Go Wobbly’: Why Britain Is Lobbying U.S. Republicans on Ukraine.” As you know, “no time to go wobbly” is a phrase associated with Margaret Thatcher, whether she actually said it or not.

The subheading of the Times report reads, “The U.K., often a wingman to the United States in defense, is pushing its ally to stand firm against President Vladimir V. Putin, amid fears that Russia poses an existential threat to Europe.”

I’m not sure the Brits will get anywhere. Either way, this much is clear: A world, a West, without American leadership must be contemplated.

• “Is Congress Really Going to Abandon Ukraine Now?” That is the title of an article by Anne Applebaum. The subtitle is, “The U.S. rallied the world to help the Ukrainians. Are Americans really going to leave them to their fate?” It seems so, yes.

• A column by Josh Rogin, blunt: “A MAGA-created nightmare is unfolding for Ukraine.”

• Julia Davis, as you know, is the creator of the Russian Media Monitor. She quotes Vladimir Solovyov, a leading propagandist, a prominent host on Russian television:

“Yellen screamed, ‘Don’t you dare!’ Biden screamed, ‘Don’t you dare!’ But Republicans said, ‘Go to hell! We won’t give your khokhols [a slur for “Ukrainians”] any money.”

Another propagandist, Roman Golovanov, said:

“This will be a great revelation to other countries. It is even more dangerous to be a friend of the United States than its enemy. In the end, they will abandon you, leaving nothing but the scorched earth on your territory.”

I must have read this a thousand times in National Review and other conservative publications here in America when I was coming of age: “It’s more dangerous to be a friend of the United States than an enemy.”

• From a CNN report:

Sen. Thom Tillis, a Republican from North Carolina who is among those supportive of more aid, said he just wants to remind his colleagues there are consequences to not taking action.

“This won’t take decades to regret. This will be in a matter of years, and so people who chose to ultimately exit Ukraine, if they are successful — for as long as I am breathing — I will remind them of the consequences I am convinced we will have to live with,” Tillis said.

Strong words. When he speaks of exiting Ukraine, Tillis must mean cutting off aid to Ukraine — because there are no American or other NATO troops in Ukraine. That is one of the strongest arguments for supporting the Ukrainians: They are doing the fighting and dying. What they need from the rest of us is support. If Putin is victorious in Ukraine, and proceeds to go into NATO countries: What then?

Senator J. D. Vance, in his characteristic style, accused Nikki Haley of wanting to “ship our young men and women to fight in wars they don’t have any business belonging in.” What Haley and those like her want to do is draw a line in Ukraine: while it costs us relatively little — money and weapons, rather than blood.

• Hal Brands has written an article titled “Ukraine’s Desperate Hour: The World Needs a Russian Defeat.” He writes,

For months, political dysfunction has prevented the US from replenishing the level of support Ukraine needs to fight its war. The European Union has been momentarily stymied in its own bid to ramp up Ukraine assistance by the resistance of the pro-Putin government in Hungary. “Ukraine fatigue” is rising in much of the West.

If Donald Trump wins the presidency this November, democratic solidarity could devolve into transatlantic rancor. And if the US ends up abandoning Ukraine, that country could still go down to a military defeat that would have global consequences, by demonstrating that democracies lack the stamina to prevent expansionist autocracies — whether Putin’s Russia, Xi’s China, Kim’s North Korea, or Khamenei’s Iran — from imposing their will on the world.

On this business of “Ukraine fatigue,” I would like to quote George Weigel (in an article called “Standing with Ukraine”):

What are French, German, and American political leaders thinking when they wring their hands and whine about being “tired” of the war in Ukraine? I’m quite sure that Ukrainians are also tired: tired of having their children kidnapped and taken to Russia for brainwashing; tired of burying their dead after Russian drone strikes on civilian targets; tired of being denied adequate arms and ammunition. Yet they carry on. How dare a comfortable French president, a comfortable German chancellor, and comfortable American congressmen and senators speak of “Ukraine fatigue” when our ally is being bled white and yet fights on?

Fortunately, others with stronger moral fiber get it.

Some more from Weigel — his concluding two paragraphs:

For months, the U.S. Congress has played games with Ukrainian military aid, holding it hostage to yet another mindless fracas between Democrats and Republicans over what every sane American citizen understands is a grave crisis of immigration policy. This is behavior unworthy of a great nation. It is past time for the citizenry to call on those who represent us in the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate to stop their childish caterwauling, to cease debasing our politics with social media snark, to behave in a manner befitting adults who have taken oaths to legislate responsibly — and to support a brave people who, against terrible odds and in the face of immense suffering, are defending our victory in the Cold War as well as their country.

Those who do not are going to face a harsh judgment at the bar of history.

• A thought from Patrick Chovanec, or a “reminder,” as he says:

It is very human. If you’re going to abandon people, and leave them to the wolves, you disparage them, if you don’t outright demonize them. This is no doubt age-old.

• Two weeks ago, I had a touching and rather painful conversation with a young Israeli who is something anachronistic: a Reagan conservative. “Why do so many Republicans not realize that Putin is an enemy of America, too?” he said. “Aren’t they supposed to stand up for America against the country’s enemies?”

There have been several excuses, over many months: “We can’t aid Ukraine because we have a budget deficit.” “We can’t aid Ukraine because we need the money for Taiwan.” “We can’t aid Ukraine while our border is broken.” My impression is, those who make these excuses aren’t for Ukraine at all. The excuses are but fig leaves. There are some politicians and media figures who don’t bother with the fig leaves — which I suppose is better.

The hour is late but has not yet expired. Ten days ago, the chairman of the NATO Military Committee, Admiral Rob Bauer, made an arresting statement: “The outcome of this war will determine the fate of the world.” Is that saying too much? We may have to see.