Doing well by doing right
American support for Ukraine
Today President Zelens’kyi is in Washington to ask Congress for support.
It is right to stand by Ukraine in this war. It is a situation of unusual moral simplicity.
Ukraine was attacked in violation of international law, and is defending itself.
Russian occupiers in Ukraine commit war crimes, which cease only when territory is liberated.
Russian propagandists say the goal of the elimination of the Ukrainian nation as such.
And America has done well by supporting Ukraine. It is a situation of unusual strategic gain.
Ukrainians are fulfilling the entire NATO mission by themselves, absorbing and halting a full-scale Russian attack.
Ukrainians are deterring a Chinese offensive in the Pacific by demonstrating how difficult such an operation would be.
Ukrainians are defending the notion of an international order with rules, making war elsewhere less likely.
And there is an important way that doing right and doing well come together.
Ukraine was attacked as a democracy, and is defending itself as a democracy. It is historically unusual for a dictatorship to try to destroy a democracy by force.
That Putin's Russia is trying to do so reminds us that we are a historical turning point. On one side of the scale are Russia's ruthlessness and resources. On the other side are Ukrainians' sacrifice and our support. Their sacrifice will be enough, if our assistance will be enough.
Historians will look back at these two years of war and marvel at how much the Ukrainians did for their allies. I expect they will describe this turning point for what it was, including in its moral dimension.
What I can't predict is which way matters will turn, since that depends upon us, and what we do in the next few days. We have an unusual chance to do well by doing right. Will we take it?
Call and write to members of Congress. R Senators James Lankford, John Cornyn, and John Thune. D Senators Chris Murphy, Michael Bennet, and Chris Coons. They are central in the Ukraine negotiations. It is going to be a very tough year for democracy, with the threats pending on so many fronts. We have to work hard for it every day and not stop. Let's help one another keep up this difficult, existential fight.
TRUMPIST/PUTIN BROMANCE?
In an isolationist America, in 1940-1941 Franklin Roosevelt boldly provided military support to Winston Churchill’s England, which was standing alone against Hitler-occupied Western Europe.
England was the launch pad for D-Day. The Allies won and Hitler committed suicide in his Berlin bunker.
President Truman spearheaded the creation of NATO, which was a Cold War bulwark against Stalinist Soviet Union, until the Soviet disintegration.
President Biden created an extraordinary riposte to Putin’s brutal invasion of sovereign Ukraine as part of his ‘Greater Russia’ obsession. Subsequently, President Zelensky and his courageous citizens have depended on sustained foreign supplies in their fight against a much larger Russian military.
When President Biden initiated a legislative request in October for a $110 billion budgetary supplement, I never imagined that, two months later, the urgent $60 billion for Ukraine would be in serious jeopardy. I remember the WW II song “Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition…and We’ll All Be Free.”
Instead the Trumpublicans, including Mitch the Switch McConnell and Jackal Johnson, have linked vital aid to Ukraine with a hostage/blackmail demand to reach some undefined ‘solution’ of the long-standing immigration imbroglio.
Currently Congress apparently intends soon to depart on an extended Christmas vacation leaving a boiling pot of unresolved legislative issues.
While President Biden has invited President Zelensky to the White House in a desperate attempt to get the $60 billion for Ukraine approved, Trumpublicans have invited Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Organ to a conference when his anti-Ukraine, Pro-Putin views will be highlighted.
Putin must be chuckling at what I, as a former Foreign Service Officer, consider TREASONOUS activity by the Trumpists.
SHAME ON YOU UNPRINCIPLED POLITICAL LACKEYS!