Excellent, concise, very readable summary of the absolute need to support Ukraine 🇺🇦 as a global victory for mankind. “We” must win at all costs or the world will veer entirely off course to potential self determination by all nations, certainly a worthy and just goal. Negotiations in the US regarding budget issues must NOT deprive Ukraine of the support it requires. America First IS SUPPORT FOR UKRAINE. 🇺🇸🇺🇦
Every congress member questioning aid to Ukraine needs to receive a copy of this post. I’ll see that Marc Molinaro does, since he has flirted with pacifying the Putinists.
Thanks for underscoring the importance of Ukraine's victory. Here's another angle: "Germany, the country that ruined the 20th Century, is damaging the 21st. Berlin’s political decisions facilitated Putin’s invasion of Ukraine and now its politicians slow-walk the military assistance and sanctions needed to defeat Russia. The most recent example is Germany’s refusal to permit the acquisition by Ukraine of 300 German-made Leopard II battle tanks — unless and until America also sends M1 Abrams tanks to Ukraine. Washington has declined to send the Abrams because the tank is inferior to the Leopard, costly and cumbersome. Even so, Germany insists. But this is not about tanks. It’s about guilt and optics. German politicians worry that it won’t go unnoticed that the last time German tanks moved eastward was in 1941 when Hitler’s “Barbarossa” armada invaded and swept toward Russia using 3,400 tanks that were, like the Leopard II, made by arms giant, Krauss-Maffei Wegmann who was also Nazi Germany’s prime supplier. While eyebrow-raising, these inconvenient historical facts do not justify preventing Ukraine from deploying Leopard tanks to break through Russia’s “Maginot Line” of trenches, landmines, artillery, and cement barriers in its East. In this case, as in others, Germany’s mentality and hesitation have been unhelpful and disquieting." https://dianefrancis.substack.com/p/germanys-world-war-iii
Thank you so much, Professor. Ive been helping support and corresponding w a young Ukr mother in Kyiv (found her clothing company on Etsy) I have and have given out Ukrainian garden flags. A group of us are hosting a group of eight Ukr refugees in our state.
I write/email my DC reps and sens more than theyd like.
We need to stop acting out of fear of russia. We (and effing germany) just need to do the right thing and put an end to this humanitarian and environmental catastrophe.
Excellent as always. As a physicist who is active in efforts to eliminate nuclear weapons and the facilities that make them possible, I would like to emphasize my agreement with points number 10 and 11. Unsaid, no doubt for brevity, are the facts that Ukraine had an arsenal of nuclear weapons when the Soviet Union collapsed, and it agreed to give up those weapons in return for security guarantees by both the Russian Federation and the United States. Russia has abrogated its agreement, and the United States has not fully upheld its promise to guarantee Ukraine's security. Of course, the US argues that the 1994 Budapest Memorandum was not really a security guarantee but rather a promise to respect Ukraine's territorial integrity. In other words, a toothless document.
The world has a sad record when it comes to security guarantees as rewards for nuclear nonproliferation. Ukraine is an example of Russian disregard of its promises, but the US is not without guilt. We beseeched Qaddafi to give up his nuclear weapons program, and the instant he did we along with some of our European allies overthrew him. Little wonder, IMO, why Iran and North Korea are so distrustful.
The presence of thousands of nuclear weapons is an existential threat to life on this planet, ranking in urgency second only to climate change. The employment of even a small fraction of the US or Russian thermonuclear warheads would be sufficient to cause a nuclear winter, causing a die-off on a scale not seen since the Cretaceous-Paleogene mass extinction.
At 1m 33s in, a woman says, "They asked whether I will cooperate or not, and I certainly will not cooperate, so they--my kitchen is small--they boiled some water and said that if I am not going to work with them, then I do not need hands. I managed to pull one hand away, but boiling water poured on my left hand." This is the first time I'd encountered a description of Russian torture techniques used in Ukraine in which the Glove Trick was used. I have no idea how widespread it is in Ukraine. Nor do I know if there is widespread knowledge of it in Russia, or if these soldiers learned about it from their superiors. But it is among the most ghastly forms of torture I've ever come across in reading history.
I’m glad Prof. Snyder mentioned Taiwan. The Chinese under Xi have been calling themselves “war wolves”. They are taking an aggressive stance and are waiting for the opportunity. They are using almost all the same arguments to justify an invasion of Taiwan as Putin has used against Ukraine.
People speak about Germany's reluctance to send tanks because of the Nazis attack on the Soviet Union. What about what the Nazis did in Ukraine? What about what Stalin did to Ukraine?
These tanks Germany could send would be fighting against the direct descendants of Stalin and the KGB. They would be fighting against Putin's fascist aims.
“Germans want to be seen as a partner, not an aggressor, and they have a particular sensitivity to delivering arms in regions where German arms were historically used to kill millions of people,” said Steven Sokol, the president of the American Council on Germany, citing Russia, Poland and Ukraine. “People do not want German weapons on the front lines being used to kill people in those regions.”
But Germans risk misinterpreting the lessons of their history, said Timothy Garton Ash, a historian of Germany and Europe at St. Antony’s College at Oxford. “The German position is profoundly confused, with the old thinking dead and the new not yet born,” he said.
(end quote)
Profoundly confused, amazingly so... Doesn't the German position seem perversely nationalistic? German weapons cannot be used and Germany can keep itself "clean" while others bear the burden ( including of German security) while Russia reaps the benefits of its aggression with the help of German defacto appeasement.
Thank you, Tim. Much love and appreciation to you from Ukraine 🇺🇦
Particularly for mentioning and linking to savelife.in.ua NGO. Those people are performing extreme efforts to help Ukrainian military to succeed. Official U.S. branch of this fund will open soon. Every your dollar donated there will approximate our common victory.
Most of this does not follow automatically from Ukraine winning the war. It must also win the peace. Just as Germany's defeat after WW1 did not prevent WW2, but in fact, the terms of peace led directly to political and social dysfunction, then to Hitler.
Ukraine must organize and fund a clearing of the rubble, salvaging of material, and forward-looking reconstruction. It cannot become the victim of vulture investors backed by the IMF (which has no history of success anywhere). At the same time, an impoverished and embittered Russia sets the stage for more strife, not less.
I just sent this article to a Quaker friend who has been in the peace movement since the 60s. I've been trying to get her and others in her group to understand why U.S. involvement is not the same as our involvement in previous conflicts over the past several decades. Stopping our support will not bring peace, but genocide.
Why the world needs Ukrainian victory
Excellent, concise, very readable summary of the absolute need to support Ukraine 🇺🇦 as a global victory for mankind. “We” must win at all costs or the world will veer entirely off course to potential self determination by all nations, certainly a worthy and just goal. Negotiations in the US regarding budget issues must NOT deprive Ukraine of the support it requires. America First IS SUPPORT FOR UKRAINE. 🇺🇸🇺🇦
Every congress member questioning aid to Ukraine needs to receive a copy of this post. I’ll see that Marc Molinaro does, since he has flirted with pacifying the Putinists.
Thanks for underscoring the importance of Ukraine's victory. Here's another angle: "Germany, the country that ruined the 20th Century, is damaging the 21st. Berlin’s political decisions facilitated Putin’s invasion of Ukraine and now its politicians slow-walk the military assistance and sanctions needed to defeat Russia. The most recent example is Germany’s refusal to permit the acquisition by Ukraine of 300 German-made Leopard II battle tanks — unless and until America also sends M1 Abrams tanks to Ukraine. Washington has declined to send the Abrams because the tank is inferior to the Leopard, costly and cumbersome. Even so, Germany insists. But this is not about tanks. It’s about guilt and optics. German politicians worry that it won’t go unnoticed that the last time German tanks moved eastward was in 1941 when Hitler’s “Barbarossa” armada invaded and swept toward Russia using 3,400 tanks that were, like the Leopard II, made by arms giant, Krauss-Maffei Wegmann who was also Nazi Germany’s prime supplier. While eyebrow-raising, these inconvenient historical facts do not justify preventing Ukraine from deploying Leopard tanks to break through Russia’s “Maginot Line” of trenches, landmines, artillery, and cement barriers in its East. In this case, as in others, Germany’s mentality and hesitation have been unhelpful and disquieting." https://dianefrancis.substack.com/p/germanys-world-war-iii
Thank you so much, Professor. Ive been helping support and corresponding w a young Ukr mother in Kyiv (found her clothing company on Etsy) I have and have given out Ukrainian garden flags. A group of us are hosting a group of eight Ukr refugees in our state.
I write/email my DC reps and sens more than theyd like.
We need to stop acting out of fear of russia. We (and effing germany) just need to do the right thing and put an end to this humanitarian and environmental catastrophe.
Now. We must act NOW!
Slava Ukraine! Slava Democracy!!
Excellent as always. As a physicist who is active in efforts to eliminate nuclear weapons and the facilities that make them possible, I would like to emphasize my agreement with points number 10 and 11. Unsaid, no doubt for brevity, are the facts that Ukraine had an arsenal of nuclear weapons when the Soviet Union collapsed, and it agreed to give up those weapons in return for security guarantees by both the Russian Federation and the United States. Russia has abrogated its agreement, and the United States has not fully upheld its promise to guarantee Ukraine's security. Of course, the US argues that the 1994 Budapest Memorandum was not really a security guarantee but rather a promise to respect Ukraine's territorial integrity. In other words, a toothless document.
The world has a sad record when it comes to security guarantees as rewards for nuclear nonproliferation. Ukraine is an example of Russian disregard of its promises, but the US is not without guilt. We beseeched Qaddafi to give up his nuclear weapons program, and the instant he did we along with some of our European allies overthrew him. Little wonder, IMO, why Iran and North Korea are so distrustful.
The presence of thousands of nuclear weapons is an existential threat to life on this planet, ranking in urgency second only to climate change. The employment of even a small fraction of the US or Russian thermonuclear warheads would be sufficient to cause a nuclear winter, causing a die-off on a scale not seen since the Cretaceous-Paleogene mass extinction.
Always the first person to look to for honest evaluation. Ukraine fights for us all.
RE #1: A few days ago I came across this video from DW, in which some of the citizens in liberated Kherson described what the Russians had done to them. https://twitter.com/dwnews/status/1614260496500146176?cxt=HHwWgICyzc3XgOcsAAAA
At 1m 33s in, a woman says, "They asked whether I will cooperate or not, and I certainly will not cooperate, so they--my kitchen is small--they boiled some water and said that if I am not going to work with them, then I do not need hands. I managed to pull one hand away, but boiling water poured on my left hand." This is the first time I'd encountered a description of Russian torture techniques used in Ukraine in which the Glove Trick was used. I have no idea how widespread it is in Ukraine. Nor do I know if there is widespread knowledge of it in Russia, or if these soldiers learned about it from their superiors. But it is among the most ghastly forms of torture I've ever come across in reading history.
I’m glad Prof. Snyder mentioned Taiwan. The Chinese under Xi have been calling themselves “war wolves”. They are taking an aggressive stance and are waiting for the opportunity. They are using almost all the same arguments to justify an invasion of Taiwan as Putin has used against Ukraine.
People speak about Germany's reluctance to send tanks because of the Nazis attack on the Soviet Union. What about what the Nazis did in Ukraine? What about what Stalin did to Ukraine?
These tanks Germany could send would be fighting against the direct descendants of Stalin and the KGB. They would be fighting against Putin's fascist aims.
from the NYT "Russia-Ukraine War Briefing":
“Germans want to be seen as a partner, not an aggressor, and they have a particular sensitivity to delivering arms in regions where German arms were historically used to kill millions of people,” said Steven Sokol, the president of the American Council on Germany, citing Russia, Poland and Ukraine. “People do not want German weapons on the front lines being used to kill people in those regions.”
But Germans risk misinterpreting the lessons of their history, said Timothy Garton Ash, a historian of Germany and Europe at St. Antony’s College at Oxford. “The German position is profoundly confused, with the old thinking dead and the new not yet born,” he said.
(end quote)
Profoundly confused, amazingly so... Doesn't the German position seem perversely nationalistic? German weapons cannot be used and Germany can keep itself "clean" while others bear the burden ( including of German security) while Russia reaps the benefits of its aggression with the help of German defacto appeasement.
Thank you for keeping this at the forefront. So many issues will be solved at once when we assist Ukraine and end this horror show.
Thank you, Tim. Much love and appreciation to you from Ukraine 🇺🇦
Particularly for mentioning and linking to savelife.in.ua NGO. Those people are performing extreme efforts to help Ukrainian military to succeed. Official U.S. branch of this fund will open soon. Every your dollar donated there will approximate our common victory.
Glory to Ukraine 🇺🇦!
Just found this on BBC: "Ukraine war: Germany won't block export of its Leopard 2 tanks, foreign minister says." https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-64370165
Thankyou Prof Snyder...
Most of this does not follow automatically from Ukraine winning the war. It must also win the peace. Just as Germany's defeat after WW1 did not prevent WW2, but in fact, the terms of peace led directly to political and social dysfunction, then to Hitler.
Ukraine must organize and fund a clearing of the rubble, salvaging of material, and forward-looking reconstruction. It cannot become the victim of vulture investors backed by the IMF (which has no history of success anywhere). At the same time, an impoverished and embittered Russia sets the stage for more strife, not less.
An idea for reparations: https://aharvey.substack.com/p/an-alternative-for-reparations
I just sent this article to a Quaker friend who has been in the peace movement since the 60s. I've been trying to get her and others in her group to understand why U.S. involvement is not the same as our involvement in previous conflicts over the past several decades. Stopping our support will not bring peace, but genocide.