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Shortly after Vladimir Puting released the dogs of war,
U.S. Senator Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, released
the following statement regarding Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine:
“Weakness tempts tyrants and totalitarians to seek more power." [Emphasis mine]
People who only want to live in
peace suffer the consequences. Ultimately, there is only one group of people responsible for the tragedies unfolding -
Vladimir Putin and his cronies. They have stolen wealth from the Russian people, destabilized and done great harm to their
European neighbors, and now they’ve crossed another line that will yield untold horrors. Europe must act with strength and
resolve to prevent risking a wider conflict, and the U.S. must support our NATO allies and freedom loving people in this
moment of extreme peril.” (Ref. 1)
The current Ukrainian crisis is a hostage crisis of much greater proportion than the Iranian hostage
situation of 1979. The hostages are not a group of diplomats and citizens, but rather the entire Ukrainian population, all
NATO countries and the entire world. Russian President Vladimir Putin, invoking his ready access to nuclear weapons, is holding
the West, Ukraine and his own people hostage as a result of their collective fear that he will utilize the weapons to achieve
his goal — the restoration of the former Soviet Union. He scoffs at economic sanctions, maintains that he IS the government,
and exercises unilateral authority to reinstate the Soviet Union’s prior boundaries. The best interests of his own Russian
population are secondary to his desire to reestablish the former evil Soviet Empire. As for the economic and overall well-being
of Russian citizens is concerned, Putin has adopted the Marie Antoinette approach, “Let them eat cake.”
This scenario calls into question the extent to which any economic sanctions can stop the brutality,
killing, destruction of property and the democratic independence of Ukraine. By the time economic sanctions could achieve
measurable consequences - if any - Ukraine will have been reduced to a Russian-dominated wasteland.
Putin is playing a high-stakes poker game by holding hostage the entire world simply by his
nuclear threat. Putin has now shown his disregard for the consequences of a nuclear disaster by his callous attacks on nuclear
facilities within Ukraine.
Putin is using the nuclear threat and and treating human life in the Ukraine and in his own country
as poker chips to secure and regain geographyin his high-stakes poker game. The current situation and turmoil more than likely
will have to be stopped by his own leaders and the Russian population.[2]
After months of Kremlin threats and White House equivocating, Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine.
U.S. President Joseph Biden’s long promised “swift and severe” consequences were nothing of the sort.
There was a time when sanctions might have checked Russia’s aggression. But Biden blinked. When Biden
said sanctions would come only after any invasion, Putin took it as an invitation. Now, Biden’s weak response to Putin’s
aggression only further emboldens the Russian tyrant. And make no mistake: The rest of the world’s evil doers are
watching closely.[3]
There was a time when President Biden could have told Putin that America would have to carefully and
fully consider what it would do if Russia sent troops into Ukraine. Instead of keeping Putin guessing, Biden told Putin - in
advance - that America would not send its troops into Ukraine. Biden thereby gave Putin a green light to proceed with his
invasion of Ukraine. Putin knew in advanc that the U.S. would take no effective action to head off his attack on
Ukraine.
President Biden was asked to establish a no-fly zone in
Ukraine to stop the Russian bombing of civilian targets. Biden could have responded by saying the he would take the request
under consideration. That would have kept Putin guessing. Instead, Biden immediately announced that the U.S. would not
enforce a no-fly restriction. Biden thus, once again, gave Putin the green light to proceed with Russia's inhumane and
criminal bombing non-military objectives.
Poland offered to give Ukraine its Russian-built fleet of fighter jets to defend itself from
attacks by Russian planes. Poland asked that America replace the Soviet planes it would be delivering to Ukraine. The
proposed deal would not involve Americans fighting in or above Ukraine. The proposed deal would not have required American
aircraft to be used for aerial combat above Ukraine. Biden instantly and flatly
refused to consider the proposal. Biden could have announced that America would consider Poland's proposal.
Instead of keeping Putin in suspense over what America might do, Biden instantly told Putin that he was refusing Poland's
offer to come to the aid of Ukraine and its people. Once again, Biden gave Putin a green light to proceed with his air war
on its peaceful neighbor.
In responcse to Russia's uncalled for invasion of Ukraine, it was obvious to all - especially to
Vladimir Putin - that Russia and Putin had nothing to fear from a timid and totally ineffective American president.
Fox News senior strategic analyst General Jack Keane (Ret.) predicted that Vladimir Putin would
eventually facilitate a regime change in Ukraine. He warned of the broader consequences of Russia's
invasion, noting that "it will embolden Iranian and Chinese leaders who will perceive weakness in Western countries
that didn't deter Putin."
This is the result of the Afghan debacle which is having residual effects and emboldening our
adversaries. We've seen it with Putin's invasion. In turn, this aggression will have that kind
of residual impact on the Iranians. And certainly President Xi of Communist China is looking at what is happening.
What President Xi sees is weakness in the West and and he must be asking how that can advantage him in terms of his national
objectives. Similar comments can be made about North Korea's dictator, Kim Jong-un.[4]
Continuing the policy of trying to avoid angering the Russian tyrant and failing to stand up to the
communist despot , “President Joe “Empty Shelves” Biden isn’t learning any lessons; he continues to appease and thus
embolden bloody Russian dictator Vladimir Putin. [Emphasis mine]
“Instead of demonstrating strength (the only thing Putin actually understands, respects, and is
deterred by), Biden is once again caving before the Moscow autocrat.
“This time, Sleepy Joe’s latest shameful decision is to cancel previously scheduled tests of America’s
Minuteman III nuclear intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs).
“Biden is doing this since Putin dared to threaten America and the rest of the West with nuclear
war.
“The cancelation of the Minuteman III tests is bound to be perceived by the Russian dictator
as a sign of weakness and eagerness to appease him. [Emphasis mine]
“There is no question whatsoever the reason Putin decided to invade Ukraine was because of Biden’s
weakness on foreign policy, especially in Afghanistan last year.
“Instead of behaving as the chief executive of the most powerful nation in human history, Biden is
engaging in the most counter-productive type of appeasement; this gives Putin the impression that he can get away with
anything.” (Ref. 5)
We are today once again witnessing the failure of the free world to rein in a bloody tyrant before
it becomes too late. How soon the
world has forgotten the lessons of history of what led up to World War II and the terrible consequences that resulted.
The Russian people
should themselves appreciate the price that was paid. What was a major contributor to the disaster was the appeasement of a
madman. “Appeasement is a policy of granting political and material concessions to an aggressive, foreign power. It often
occurs in the {vain} hope of {quenching} the aggressor’s desires for further demands and, consequently, avoiding the outbreak of
war.
“The most famous instance of the policy in action {was} during the build-up to World War Two when the
major European powers failed to confront German expansionism in Europe, Italian aggression in Africa and Japanese policy in
China.
“It was a policy motivated by several factors, and one that tarred the reputations of several
politicians, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain notable among them.
“Against the backdrop of forcible seizure of political control at home, from 1935 onwards Hitler
began an aggressive, expansionist foreign policy. This was a key element of his domestic appeal as an assertive leader who
was unashamed of German success.
“As Germany grew in strength, she began to swallow German speaking lands around her. Meanwhile in
1936 the Italian dictator Mussolini invaded and established Italian control of Abyssinia.
“Chamberlain continued to follow his appeasement until 1938. It was only when Hitler reneged on the
promise he had given to the British Prime Minister at the Munich Conference – that he would not occupy the rest of
Czechoslovakia – that Chamberlain concluded his policy had failed and that the ambitions of dictators such as Hitler and
Mussolini could not be quelled.
“Hitler’s subsequent invasion of Poland at the start of September 1939 led to another European war.
In the Far East, Japanese military expansion was largely unopposed until Pearl Harbor in 1941.”
(Ref. 6)
In the 1930’s, the tyrants of the world observed the weakness of the democracies and their failures
to confront the aggressions that the dictatorships of the world were perpetrating. This timidity and failure to stand up to the
bullies of the world created the environment that ultimately resulted in World War II and its untold destruction and misery,
the consequences of which still endure to this day. The lesson that should have been indelibly etched in the psyche of mankind
– the lesson that free nations and free people must never show weakness in the face of aggression by would-be tyrants – has today
apparently been forgotten or is being ignored! Signs of weakness only embolden tyrants! Ukraine is today
paying the price for ignoring this fact. Tomorrow, so too will others, just as the entire world paid the price of ignoring the
aggression of militaristic Japan and the megalomaniacal desires of the fascist dictators in Italy and Nazi Germany.
The free world should not fear Vladimir Putin – instead, Putin must be made to fear the wrath of the free people
of the world!
President Biden was well aware of Putin’s plans to invade Ukraine long before the attack and invasion
began. Biden mouthed toothless threats but took no concrete action to head off the Russian invasion. Only after the
attacks and invasion had begun did the American president belatedly invoke economic sanctions and shut off the Russian oil
spigot to the U.S. – a trickle that had only amounted to 3% of America’s oil usage. Too little and too
late!
One action that Americans can take to support Ukraine right now is to “stop whining” about higher
gas prices. The added cost is a miniscule price to pay if it will slow down or stop the Russian leader. Added fuel costs are a
righteous sacrifice the American people should be willing to make without complaint.
Americans who want to support Ukraine don’t have to like higher prices, but they can fill up knowing
that it's all for a good cause on the other side of the world.
What America should do at the same time is to admit that we have been whining about higher gas prices
long before Russia decided to invade Ukraine. Gas was a few ticks over $2 per gallon when President Trump left office. Had the
Biden administration taken appropriate steps to keep America energy independent as former President Trump had done, kept the
Keystone pipeline project alive, and hadn’t supported Russia’s Nord Stream 2 pipeline, the nation would have been in a far
better position to absorb the current crisis. Under President Biden we created our own bed of thorns.
President Barack Obama had bragged that lower gas prices during his administration were due in part
to the United States being “as free of foreign oil as we’ve been in 30 years.” Rather than continuing to be free from the
influence of foreign oil, President Biden has made the U.S. once again dependent on it, and heseems to have no shame in that
depressing fact.
Biden resisted bipartisan calls to ban Russian oil imports until it was too late to stave off the
Russian invasion of Ukraine, saying it would increase already skyrocketing gas prices. Recently, Transportation Secretary
Buttigieg suggested the administration was considering buying oil from Iran. It was also reported that President Biden’s
advisors were considering a trip to Saudi Arabia to “convince the Kingdom to pump more
oil.”[7]
“One of the important takeaways from the Russian invasion of Ukraine is that once again the
Western world had dangerously failed to appreciate the limited utility of its traditional military defense model. Just
as the Vietnam War experience made plain that the WWII-era blueprint of overwhelming force was not a good fit for
countering well-organized local insurgencies, so too was there a total lack of understanding of what it would take to
meet the aggressive challenges Russia would present in the decades following the disintegration of the Soviet Union.
“It is time we got with the program.
“Improvident as it may have been to express it publicly at the time, President Joe Biden was right
on the money when he pointed out with characteristic frankness that the U.S. and its allies would “have a fight about what
to do and not do” depending on the seriousness of a Russian attack on Ukraine. Of course, the President gave assurances that
if any of the assembled Russian units moved across the Ukrainian border, it would result in a “severe and coordinated economic
response” that he had discussed with allies. Clearly, however, there is presently no agreed-upon military option; only an
economic one of indeterminate scope and largely untested as a deterrent when applied to a world power.
“The present problem did not come upon us all at once, either. The Soviet Union officially dissolved
in 1991; but the alliance of Western nations known as NATO (the North Atlantic Treaty Organization), established specifically
to contain Soviet expansionism after WWII, was not disbanded. To Russia, this was and continues to be a provocation and threat
to their homeland. Combined with homegrown aspirations, goaded on for decades by Vladimir Putin, to return Russia to its
Soviet Union glory days, Western leaders should have known what to expect from the Putin crowd.
“Indeed, in 2008 and 2014 Russia launched small-scale invasions of Georgia and Ukraine and also
annexed Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula. The response from the West was exclusively economic – and half-hearted and ineffectual
at that, despite American military, political, and economic dominance over Russia and China at the time.
“Today, the U.S. is no longer the world’s undisputed leader. Russia and China are quickly closing
that gap. Moreover, the internal strife in America complicates any notion of restraining Russia’s designs on countries that
were part of the Soviet Union. Before pulling the trigger on Ukraine this month, Putin doubtless took into account the chaotic
scene in the U.S.: its national government wracked by immobilizing political partisanship; its borders no longer enforceable;
its fundamental unifying myths and traditions abandoned at every turn; its citizenry without faith in their elected officials.
It is a country whose military is seemingly preoccupied with notions of racial and gender justice rather than the projection
of military power. It is a country in which economic strength must take a second seat to environmental concerns, even when
its fiercest competitors are not so limited.
“Interestingly, Putin’s aggression against Ukraine seems to have inadvertently triggered a wave of
unity among other Western allies, all amenable to fully cooperating in a plan to seriously drill down on the Russian economy.
Perhaps severely crippling Russia’s ability to participate in the international banking system will make a difference in ways
that imposing this or that sanction on Russia like President Biden just did will not. A marked increase in U.S. military
spending to create a credible military option against Russia, and a movement towards a more robust foreign policy consensus
with our allies, would also seem to be in order.
“At the risk of hyperbole, there is nothing less at stake than a situation where Vladimir Putin
demands that European countries jump and they ask how high on the way down.”
(Ref. 8)
A widely offered explanation for the Russian invasion of Ukraine is that Russia - which at this time
essentially means President Vladimir Putin - fears the expansion of NATO to its borders, especially Ukraine. The argument is
often presented as an analogy: How would the United States react if Mexico had a mutual defense pact with Russia and received
weapons from Russia?
A second explanation is that Russia is “paranoid” as a result of its having been devastated by the
invasions of Napoleon’s France in the 19th century and Hitler’s Germany in the 20th.
This is absurd when, today, one considers the countries that Russia allegedly fears will invade them.
Which one of their Western-border countries - Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, Moldova, Belarus, Ukraine - is likely to invade
Russia? Wasn’t every one of them invaded in the past by Russia? Shouldn’t every one of them be paranoid?
We’ll end the “paranoid” discussion with this rule of history: Generally speaking, wars are either
between two police states or between a police state and a free state. And the latter are nearly always initiated or provoked
by the police state. Russia has nothing to fear from its neighbors. Its neighbors have plenty to fear from
Russia.
I know of no American, on the Right or the Left, who has called for sending the U.S. military into
Ukraine. But every American should feel awful - morally and as an American - about America sitting by and watching the first
major invasion of a peaceful country since Hitler and Stalin. One reason is that since World War II, the weaker nations of
the world have all held onto the hope that should they be attacked by a stronger nation, Americans would come to their
aid.
America is aiding Ukraine with arms and economic sanctions, but as I watch peaceful Ukraine devoured
by aggressive Russia, I can’t help but think that it appears that evil will triumph - and lead to more evil on earth. I have
never agreed with the throwaway line, “America is not the world’s policeman.” Does the world not need a policeman? And if not
America, who? China? Russia? The U.N.?
Most Americans see themselves as protectors of the weak against bully nations. This is the first time
in our lifetime that America has abandoned that role.
By general consensus among the world’s media and world’s nations, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr
Zelenskyy is the most courageous leader in the world today. This is particularly remarkable since Zelenskyy’s professional
background is that of a comedian. It strikes most people as amazing that a comedian turns out to be the world’s most inspiring
leader.
It is overwhelmingly likely that American and European environmentalists made the Russian invasion
of Ukraine possible. Under Trump, America became energy independent and was even able to supply Europe with oil and gas. But the
environmental movement, which dominates the Democratic Party and nearly every Western European country, has made Russia the
major supplier of natural gas to Europe, and especially to the most important country on the European continent, Germany.
The environmentalist movement uses climate change to achieve its primary objectives: undoing of the
West’s economic foundations, reshaping the Western way of life, dismantling capitalism and transferring wealth to the Third
World. They will pursue these aims at any cost - whether crippling inflation, energy blackouts, even the strengthening of
Russia and China.
If you really believe climate change poses an “existential threat” to human life, there is no price
too high to pay in order to eliminate fossil fuel-based energy. That includes empowering and enriching evil
men and evil nations.[9]
The Russian attack on Ukraine poses a real threat to the world. Madmen, when backed into a corner, can
do irrational things like initiating a nuclear Third World War. In this regard, the public needs straight talk about what’s
happening in Eastern Europe today.
President Joe Biden and the United Kingdom’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson need to level with their
own countrymen about the rising risk of war against Russia. The public’s getting double talk - praise for the Ukrainians’
courage but also empty promises that what’s happening in Ukraine will stay in Ukraine.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken noted that “President Biden has been clear that we are
not going to get into a war with Russia.”
Johnson wrote that “this is not a NATO conflict and it will not
become one.” That’s ridiculous. The U.K. and the U.S. can’t make that guarantee. There are too many tripwires leading to
broad-scale war.
American eyes are on gruesome television images of Ukrainians huddled in the basements of bombed
hospitals or running down snowy roads with children in their arms to escape Russian missile fire.
But Russian President Vladimir Putin is eyeing territory beyond Ukraine, including Latvia,
Lithuania and Estonia, all NATO allies once under Soviet domination.
These countries and five other NATO members have already triggered Article 4 of the NATO agreement,
calling for consultations about the serious Russian threat.
In response, the U.S. and other NATO allies are moving ground troops and tanks into Lithuania, Latvia
and Estonia. Also, the U.S. is considering supplying air defense systems to these three Baltic countries.
U.S. Secretary of State Blinken also pledged to Lithuania’s foreign minister
that “we will defend every inch of NATO territory if it comes under attack.”
Putin himself has been laying tripwires for a NATO conflict. He has warned that foreign countries
like Romania that are allowing Ukrainian fighter pilots to use their airstrips may be viewed by Moscow as parties to the
conflict.
Putin has even labelled economic sanctions “akin to a declaration of war.”
Cowed by Putin’s warnings, the U.S. and NATO allies refuse Ukraine’s requests for a no-fly zone.
Blinken concedes that without NATO pilots fighting off Russian bombers, Ukrainians face bloodier days ahead as the Russians
“keep grinding things down,” leveling city after city. A high price to pay, and for what?
The Lithuanian President warned Blinken, “if we want to avoid the Third World
War,” Putin must be stopped in Ukraine. He is worried his own country will be next, but nevertheless is
driving home a fundamental truth. It won’t be easier to stop Putin after he crushes Ukraine. It’s never easier to
stop a bully once he’s allowed to win a fight.
Ukraine is not part of NATO. But the U.S. and the U.K. owe Ukraine more than what they’re doing.
In 1994, they pressured newly independent Ukraine into surrendering its nuclear weapons to Russia under the Budapest Memorandum
with tacit assurances - now conveniently forgotten - that they would respond if Russia threatened the Ukraine.
The question today is, how long can Putin be allowed to continue snuffing out innocent lives in
Eastern Europe? Russia’s economy is tanking as corporations pull out and the half-hearted sanctions already imposed by the
West take effect. Russia may be a more vulnerable foe now than at another time.
War is a last resort. But the U.S. and our NATO allies may be forced into a war with Russia, not
because we choose to go to war but because a tyrant leaves us no choice. Better now than
later??? [Ref. 10]
The lack of a rapid and robust response to the unprovoked Russian aggression against a peaceful
democratic state has gained the attention – and not in a positive light – of our friends and of the neutral nations around
the world. They now ask: What will America do if we are attacked? Will America honor its commitments?
In response to the war launched by Russia in Ukraine, Arab journalists slammed the U.S. and Europe
for “abandoning this country to its fate” instead of coming to its aid. America’s and Europe’s conduct to date proves that
they cannot be counted upon to defend their allies with military force in their hour of need. Many of the writers also
expressed contempt for the West’s decision to impose sanctions on Russia, stating that this measure had so far proved to be
ineffective.
Many of the articles written by these arab journalists also stated that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine
reflected the severe decline of
America’s superpower status. This decline, was caused by the U.S. itself, and in particular by the policy of the
Democratic
administrations, formerly under Obama and now under Biden, which eschews using or even threatening to use military force
against various threats to peace, such as Iran, the Taliban, Russia and China. As a result, these totalitarian elements have
gained power and operate as they please.
The Ukrainian crisis proves to the Arab countries that the U.S. cannot be trusted to come to their
aid in the case of an Iranian attack on them. As events in Afghanistan and Ukraine have demonstrated, it is evident that
that U.S. and Europe can no longer be counted on. The world will never forget the images of Afghans dropping off the
sides of American planes as they took off from Kabul airport in Afghanistan, nor will it forget that the Ukrainian
President begged 27 countries to let his country join NATO, but they ignored him, and now he can find no one to stand with
him in his hour of need against the Russian invasion.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine will impact alliances all over the world. So far, one country which
benefits from this is China. The losers, from a strategic standpoint, are the U.S. and Europe, because it appears as
if the Western statesmen are interested only in winning elections, regardless of the enormous damage done to their country’s
global standing.
Message: With Friends like the United States and NATO, who needs enemies? The recent
events in Ukraine are a strong reminder of the unreliability of the U.S. and western Europe. All countries must yherefore fend
for themselves and build up their own military abilities, rather than count on the U.S. to help them in their hour of
need.
America today is not the same nation that in the 1990s – under the leadership of George W. Bush –
rushed to liberate Kuwait with the help of regional allies. Later in the same decade, the U.S. – under Bill Clinton –
helped end the Balkan War and halt the Serbian massacres in Kosovo and Bosnia.
However, in more recent years, we have witnessed embarrassing acts by the same superpower not
standing up for its own values or acting upon its own red lines. We saw that happen in both Syria and Ukraine. Former U.S.
President Barack Obama threatened Syrian dictator Bashar Assad with an imaginary red line if he used chemical weapons in 2012.
There was also a similar threat if Russia took over Crimea in 2014. On both occasions, the former American president did
absolutely nothing when the possibilities became realities.
We have seen President Joe Biden follow the same path. Despite the tough-talking, he is not really
saying much. You can grin and you can frown but as long as what you are essentially saying is, “NATO is not sending troops to
Ukraine,” then the outcome is the same as not doing anything.
Ukraine – a democracy which did everything by the book and hoped to join NATO one day – is paying the
price for believing that the U.S. and the West would protect it if it chose a different orbit from that of its next-door
neighbor, Russia. Meanwhile, one cannot help but think that observers in Moscow must be laughing at recently announced punitive
measures such as barring Russia from competing in the Eurovision Song Contest 2022 or denying St. Petersburg the chance to
host a UEFA Champions League final.
The policy of the Democratic Party under Obama and now under Biden, and their refusal to use force or
even to consider using it, have shattered America’s power and prestige. Russia, China, Iran, and the Taliban are
exploiting this to their advantage. Russia and China have significantly changed the international power balance, and their
strength is only growing. They are filling strategic vacuums in the world, which the U.S. and Europe have neglected to
fill.
An important question that must be raised with caution and concern is the following. Given that the
“liberal left” in the U.S. – which is represented by the Democratic Party, and within it by the camp of former President
Barack Obama – has already knowingly shattered the prestige of the U.S., will its policy also lead to the shattering of the
international system and its institutions?
The political positions of the U.S. on Afghanistan, Ukraine, Syria and Iran are likely to convey to
the strong non-democratic countries of the world, and especially to China, that they now have an opportunity to follow the
example of Putin, of the Taliban and the Iranian regime by humiliating the U.S. and Europe, and to maximize their gains while
suffering no significant damage. While the U.S. is supposedly the strongest empire in the world, its refusal to make use of
this power, or even threaten to use it, renders this power meaningless and ineffective. It doesn’t frighten anyone at this
point in history.
In a crisis of this magnitude and severity, the talk of sanctions during a war is meaningless,
because no sanctions can change anything in the foreseeable future. Patience and waiting will not serve Ukraine or its people.
Even before the start of the military campaign, it was obvious that the Western measures to curb the ambitions of Russian
President Vladimir Putin would not go beyond imposing sanctions. Such sanctions have little impact and do little to deter him.
The pressing question today is: what will become of Ukraine? And what comes after Ukraine? What will happen to other countries
that are in a similar situation?
At the moment of truth, when the Russian forces entered Ukraine, president Volodymyr Zelensky and
other Ukrainian officials were surprised at the feebleness and helplessness of the Western camp, or at its unwillingness to
confront Russia. The result could be a deterioration into a world war that would devastate Europe, if not most of the world.
It appears that Europe is unwilling to go back to past eras and sacrifice the prosperity that its citizens have been enjoying
since the end of World War II.
Russian President Vladimir Putin understands this reality and is acting accordingly. He clearly
regards the West’s declarations and threats with contempt - and rightly so. Quite possibly, U.S. President
Joe Biden’s recent
threat, that the U.S. will defend every inch of NATO territory, actually conveys an encouraging message to Putin, because it
is not so much a threat as a green light for the Russians to invade the depth of Ukraine, which is not a NATO member.
In the volatile Middle-East, the American conduct in the Ukraine crisis is a disappointment for the
Arab countries, who now realize they cannot count on America to help them against the Iranian threat. It is now patently clear
that the Yemenis, Lebanese, Iraqis, Syrians, Saudis, Emiratis, Bahrainis and Kuwaitis, who all suffer from Iranian aggression,
will not receive anything but empty words from the West, rather than real, military
action.[11 ]
Whether the Middle East, Europe, the Americas or Asia, the modern world can be a tough neighborhood in which
to reside - especially if there is no police force to discourage the bullies and would-be tyrants of the world. And today,
as in the past, it's a given that, signs of weakness only embolden tyrants.
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References:
- Sen. Johnson Statement on Russian Invasion of Ukraine, https://www.ronjohnson.senate.gov/,
24 February 2022.
- Russia holds Ukraine – and the world – hostage with nuclear threat, Steve Kramer, Boston Herald;
Page 14, 9 March 2022.
- Biden’s Weakness Invites War, STAND FOR AMERICA, 23 February 2022.
- Gen. Keane warns Russia's war on Ukraine will embolden China: 'What Xi sees is weakness',
FOX NEWS, 24 February 2022.
- Biden Cancels US Nuclear Missile Tests to Avoid Angering Putin, DAILY JOLT,
Accessed 7 March 2022.
- Appeasement Explained: Why Did Hitler Get Away With It?, historyhit.com, 10 August 2018.
- Journalist Scolds Americans: Support Ukraine And ‘Stop Whining’ About Higher Gas Prices, Rusty Weiss,
USSA News,
7 March 2022.
- The Ukraine Tragedy: We Forgot A Key Lesson Of Vietnam, The jewish Press; Page 7,
4 March 2022.
- On Ukraine, Comedians, NATO, America And Environmentalists, Dennis Prager, DAILYWIRE,
5 March 2022.
- Putin’s war in the Ukraine could spread beyond its borders, Betsy McCaughey, Boston Herald;
Page 15, 10 March 2022.
- Arab Media Slams Biden for Dumping Ukraine, US Cannot be Trusted to Confront Iran, MEMRI,
United With Israel,
11 March 2022.
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