In a perfect world, every nation would work hand in hand with its neighbor to bring out the best in each other’s qualities which would lead to prosperity for all. We unfortunately do not live in that world when we have leaders that feel they have the right to attack other nations and their people for their resources and to stroke their own ego. It is even more dangerous if the aggressor is a nuclear nation with an unpredictable leader which goes unchecked by its council.
Ukraine was attacked by Russia, not out of defense of the Russian homeland or the supposed Nazi regime attacking Russians within Ukraine, which is what the Russian media propaganda machine continues to lead its people to believe. Ukraine was attacked because of Putin’s arrogance. His pride, his narcissism made him feel the need to strip Ukraine of its freedom, its sovereignty and its natural resources. All just to prove to his people and the world what a great and powerful leader he is. Now he is attacking the grain sources, storage centers and shipping systems which provide over 80% of the grain to more than half of the world’s population. This could lead to a great famine in the majority of the African nations.
When there is an infection that threatens your life, do you put a band-aid over it in hopes that it just fixes itself, or do you confront the infection head on to the point of cutting it out in its entirety to protect the body if necessary? I believe in the latter. In the case of Ukraine, Putin and the Russian regime is the infection. The world has just been applying bandages in the hopes that the infection slowly goes away by trickling military hardware, assets and funds to Ukraine. We all saw this attack coming and even warned Ukraine of the impending attack. It was in those early days that the UN & NATO nations should have rallied together to give Putin a proposition that could not be ignored without facing dire consequences at not only the military level but also the economic level. Yes Ukraine is not currently a member of NATO, however the UN & NATO should stand for and protect more than just its paying members, it should stand for all Countries to live in peace and freedom from oppression. All evil needs is for the good to do nothing. Russia saw a weakness in the NATO countries and more specifically the United States since we did nothing when they took Crimea or when we “drew a red line” for Syria. So Russia expected the good to do nothing and that is what Russia got in the beginning.
Before the attack on Ukraine started, a ground and air military buildup on the Ukraine-Russia border by assets of all countries should have been implemented. I am not advocating that we should put American boots on the ground as that would signal a war between two Nuclear nations and could have led to untold misery. However, if the European countries with more at stake, backed by the U.S., had provided Ukraine with artillery, ground, air and cyber capabilities from day one, this could have put enough doubt in Putin’s mind to take pause in his actions. If he still took action, the response could have been swift, precise and devastating to the Russian Military. When a bully pokes you, the only way to get them to stop is to strike back with enough force and determination to eliminate the threat. This current trickle of assets to Ukraine is just bleeding the country to a slow death.
I cannot fix what has been done, but to look at where we are now and where we need to go in the future, more has to be done. The defeat of Russia in Ukraine must happen. Russia must be driven back and must be held accountable for not only the war crimes that they have committed against the innocent people of Ukraine, but they must also pay retribution for the damage to its infrastructure, its industry and its people. This war must be used as a notice to all nations that an unprovoked aggression on a fellow country will not be allowed and will be met with unilateral response. The likes of which won’t be forgotten. The response needs to be viewed by China as an indication of what will happen when they move to take Taiwan. Be not mistaken and do not ignore it. China’s drive to take Taiwan is not an IF, it is a WHEN and that “when” is approaching faster than you think.
We as a nation must come together and have that hard discussion with ourselves and with our NATO allies as it relates to Ukraine and the continued funding of Ukraine. America has been the world police for so long that all other countries have pushed their treasures into their Social programs and ignored their defense programs. Why wouldn’t they? If a country decided to threaten an ally of America or a country where American interests were at stake, we were there. We are the hammer.
Have we as a country spent our blood and treasures in the defense of everyone and ignored the risk to ourselves? We have entered “wars” on false pretenses and manipulated information. We have gone into countries in the effort to “build their democracy” only to see those countries return to chaos when our presence is no longer there. We have done all that at the expense of our military personnel and the American people. We have tarnished the Flag for which we stand and we continue to tear ourselves against each other. The continued unchecked support of Ukraine with American Military Assets and financial funding had depleted our own stockpiles of weapons and created a tax burden on our generations to come. Our support for Ukraine has been unmatched by any other Country but must be kept in check or risk putting our Country in a position that we cannot pull ourselves out of, and I do mean ourselves since we cannot rely upon our Allies to help us when they are not even able to help those on their own border.
Make no mistake, If America is weak, the world order is at risk. If America is weak when China decides to move on Taiwan, there is nothing we will be able to do besides enter a war with China which will have ramifications on the future of society that cannot be measured. If China is successful, they will control the East and South China seas, the Taiwan Strait, accounting for all shipping lanes. They will control how products move and when it moves. They will have a stranglehold on the world’s economy, therefore they will have a hold on every nation. That isn’t the case right now because our Navy along with our allied countries of England, Australia and Japan keep those shipping lanes free and protected from aggressors. If we continue on the path we are following by not rebuilding and replenishing our tool box, there will be a day that we will reach for the tool and it is not there. That will be a day when the free nations weep.
The Real Lesson From the War on Ukraine
In a perfect world, every nation would work hand in hand with its neighbor to bring out the best in each other’s qualities which would lead to prosperity for all. We unfortunately do not live in that world when we have leaders that feel they have the right to attack other nations and their people for their resources and to stroke their own ego. It is even more dangerous if the aggressor is a nuclear nation with an unpredictable leader which goes unchecked by its council.
Ukraine was attacked by Russia, not out of defense of the Russian homeland or the supposed Nazi regime attacking Russians within Ukraine, which is what the Russian media propaganda machine continues to lead its people to believe. Ukraine was attacked because of Putin’s arrogance. His pride, his narcissism made him feel the need to strip Ukraine of its freedom, its sovereignty and its natural resources. All just to prove to his people and the world what a great and powerful leader he is. Now he is attacking the grain sources, storage centers and shipping systems which provide over 80% of the grain to more than half of the world’s population. This could lead to a great famine in the majority of the African nations.
When there is an infection that threatens your life, do you put a band-aid over it in hopes that it just fixes itself, or do you confront the infection head on to the point of cutting it out in its entirety to protect the body if necessary? I believe in the latter. In the case of Ukraine, Putin and the Russian regime is the infection. The world has just been applying bandages in the hopes that the infection slowly goes away by trickling military hardware, assets and funds to Ukraine. We all saw this attack coming and even warned Ukraine of the impending attack. It was in those early days that the UN & NATO nations should have rallied together to give Putin a proposition that could not be ignored without facing dire consequences at not only the military level but also the economic level. Yes Ukraine is not currently a member of NATO, however the UN & NATO should stand for and protect more than just its paying members, it should stand for all Countries to live in peace and freedom from oppression. All evil needs is for the good to do nothing. Russia saw a weakness in the NATO countries and more specifically the United States since we did nothing when they took Crimea or when we “drew a red line” for Syria. So Russia expected the good to do nothing and that is what Russia got in the beginning.
Before the attack on Ukraine started, a ground and air military buildup on the Ukraine-Russia border by assets of all countries should have been implemented. I am not advocating that we should put American boots on the ground as that would signal a war between two Nuclear nations and could have led to untold misery. However, if the European countries with more at stake, backed by the U.S., had provided Ukraine with artillery, ground, air and cyber capabilities from day one, this could have put enough doubt in Putin’s mind to take pause in his actions. If he still took action, the response could have been swift, precise and devastating to the Russian Military. When a bully pokes you, the only way to get them to stop is to strike back with enough force and determination to eliminate the threat. This current trickle of assets to Ukraine is just bleeding the country to a slow death.
I cannot fix what has been done, but to look at where we are now and where we need to go in the future, more has to be done. The defeat of Russia in Ukraine must happen. Russia must be driven back and must be held accountable for not only the war crimes that they have committed against the innocent people of Ukraine, but they must also pay retribution for the damage to its infrastructure, its industry and its people. This war must be used as a notice to all nations that an unprovoked aggression on a fellow country will not be allowed and will be met with unilateral response. The likes of which won’t be forgotten. The response needs to be viewed by China as an indication of what will happen when they move to take Taiwan. Be not mistaken and do not ignore it. China’s drive to take Taiwan is not an IF, it is a WHEN and that “when” is approaching faster than you think.
We as a nation must come together and have that hard discussion with ourselves and with our NATO allies as it relates to Ukraine and the continued funding of Ukraine. America has been the world police for so long that all other countries have pushed their treasures into their Social programs and ignored their defense programs. Why wouldn’t they? If a country decided to threaten an ally of America or a country where American interests were at stake, we were there. We are the hammer.
Have we as a country spent our blood and treasures in the defense of everyone and ignored the risk to ourselves? We have entered “wars” on false pretenses and manipulated information. We have gone into countries in the effort to “build their democracy” only to see those countries return to chaos when our presence is no longer there. We have done all that at the expense of our military personnel and the American people. We have tarnished the Flag for which we stand and we continue to tear ourselves against each other. The continued unchecked support of Ukraine with American Military Assets and financial funding had depleted our own stockpiles of weapons and created a tax burden on our generations to come. Our support for Ukraine has been unmatched by any other Country but must be kept in check or risk putting our Country in a position that we cannot pull ourselves out of, and I do mean ourselves since we cannot rely upon our Allies to help us when they are not even able to help those on their own border.
Make no mistake, If America is weak, the world order is at risk. If America is weak when China decides to move on Taiwan, there is nothing we will be able to do besides enter a war with China which will have ramifications on the future of society that cannot be measured. If China is successful, they will control the East and South China seas, the Taiwan Strait, accounting for all shipping lanes. They will control how products move and when it moves. They will have a stranglehold on the world’s economy, therefore they will have a hold on every nation. That isn’t the case right now because our Navy along with our allied countries of England, Australia and Japan keep those shipping lanes free and protected from aggressors. If we continue on the path we are following by not rebuilding and replenishing our tool box, there will be a day that we will reach for the tool and it is not there. That will be a day when the free nations weep.
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