Sky Defense: Bringing it Home
We are saving lives and neighborhoods in Ukraine
Dear Friends,
The Russian invasion of Ukraine is a defining confrontation of our time, and there is much you can do to help Ukrainians defend themselves -- and thereby affirm much that is of value in our world.
The war in Ukraine has now lasted longer than the First World War, and there is every reason to think that its outcome will be of comparable historical significance.
By resisting Russia, Ukrainians are defending what is perhaps most basic about decent political life: the idea that people should be who they choose to be, not whom they are forced to become. This can be seen at different levels: as the defense of an independent state, or as the defense of a democracy. But in my experience with Ukrainians and their civil society even these grand words, important as they are, do not quite capture what is essential here: that it is worth taking risks for the dignity of being human.
Ukrainians take risks on the battlefield every day. On a literal battlefield, not a metaphorical one, on a front that stretches for nearly a thousand miles, men and women hold the line. From this substack we co-led a campaign to purchase armored automobiles to help evacuate wounded soldiers. I want to just remind you that this campaign was a success; friends of mine have seen the vehicles in action, and we have the words of thanks of soldiers to those of you who contributed: you can listen here. That campaign, “Freedom as Action,” with Khartiia Brigade and Help99, is complete (but you can always do more by donating to other campaigns at Help99!).
Everyone who chooses to remain in Ukraine takes risks. From the very beginning of the war, Russia has launched swarms of missiles and drones and civilian targets. The Ukrainians lead the world in the technologies of drone defense, and are constantly innovating. In our latest campaign here at Thinking About, Sky Defense, we are raising half a million dollars to support overall Ukrainian air defense in the places where it is most necessary.
I wanted to share two pieces of good news about the campaign
First, I want you to know that of you have made a contribution, your donations are being converted in real time into into drone defense, including P1-SUN interceptor drones.
You are helping to stop Russians drones from killing people and destroying neighborhoods. Here is a look at an interceptor bringing down a Russian Shahed (that’s the Iranian name; the Russians, who have these systems from Iran originally, call them Geran).
Second, we are 80% of the way to completing the campaign!
We have raised more than $400,000, and the goal is $500,000. I am hopeful that we can finish in the next few days. I know that half a million dollars can seem like a lot to one person, but together we will get there! It’s a tiny amount on the scale of, say, the US military budget, which spends this much every ten or fifteen seconds. But the Ukrainians can use these resources well, to safe civilian life and to bring the war closer to an end.
I will write more about this in another post — but, overall, the signs for Ukraine are favorable in this year in this war. By contributing to our campaigns, you are allowing people to survive and helping people to persevere. You are also letting them know that they are not alone, and that you can see a better future, and want to part of it.
Please help if you can, and please share this post with others who might. Thank you.
The war in Ukraine has now outlasted the First World War. Snyder is right to insist that this fact carries historical weight proportional to its duration, and that the outcome will too.
What this campaign illustrates, beyond the specific hardware, is something the Western security establishment still underweights: the democratic polity as a procurement network. Distributed, crowdfunded, civilian-adjacent defense. Donation converted to deployed capability in real time. That feedback loop is faster than most defense ministries can manage at any budget level.
The $500K figure is deliberately modest….. it represents about ten seconds of U.S. defense spending. But the signal isn’t the amount. It’s the velocity and the directness. People who understand what’s at stake, moving resources to where they matter, without bureaucratic friction.
The deeper point is that Ukraine is not only defending territory. It is road-testing democratic resilience under industrial-scale coercion. What is being learned there, about civil society mobilization, distributed command, and the psychology of persistence under sustained attack, will define security architecture for the next generation.
We should be paying close attention to the curriculum.
🐌 Johan
….
Trump is finding out that just because MAGA can’t think for themselves that doesn’t apply to the rest of the country.
Ukraine has been my guiding light for many years now and if we somehow find our way out of here is it by luck, providence, by logic and reason or a combination of factors, what will the history books write about us in 5, 10, 50 years from now. The new generation better gear up for higher education and civility and understanding peace or will have to beat it out of them!