I don't buy the argument that Americans are fatigued by the war in Ukraine and a ready to toss in the towel. I think the American people are in perhaps 4 camps. 1) Pure pacifists who oppose all wars. A very small group. 2) Americans who have never heard of Ukraine and couldn't care less one way or the other. Probably more of these than we care to admit. 3) MAGA Republicans controlled by Trump who is controlled by Putin. Trump's cult plus the House Majority plus a half dozen or so Senators. Not a large group, but very influential for obvious reasons. 4) The majority of the American people who recognize the heroism of the Ukrainian people and want to support their efforts any way we can. Maybe pollsters and politicians should start listening to us, instead of obsessing about the pro-Putin Republicans.
Tim, this is so eloquently written and passionately presented that any person with a heart or conscience would be moved by it. In my corner of the world, I do not see support for Ukraine wavering. I see more Ukrainian flags in places I would not expect. The media is creating a false narrative based on those sympathetic ideologically with Putin or actively being paid by him. They all belong to the authoritarian party aka the GOP. Please keep up your advocacy!
I share Professor Snyder’s concern that the overriding concern for Ukraine’s survival after Putin’s brutal and sustained invasion is ebbing in the US and elsewhere. Nineteen months after Putin’s ‘special military operation,’ many people are being killed in a battle for survival where no clear victory currently is apparent.
Ukraine, except for the Republican House circus freak show, is not a major media focus. Israel/
Palestinians have captured the headlines, and a possible mid-November government shutdown is pending.
I am reminded of President Roosevelt’s desperate efforts to gain public and congressional support, when he saw that the future of Western civilization was threatened by Hitler with England hanging on by a thin thread.
As a former Foreign Service Officer, I fervently believe that Ukraine is of equally vital importance. What’s at stake is the integrity of a sovereign state that a rapacious Putin seeks to destroy in the process of expanding his fantasy of a Greater Russia.
As former Defense Secretary Robert Gates wrote in the current Foreign Affairs, the US and its allies are aligned against Russia’s Putin and China’s Xi. If we permit Putin to get away with his brutal savagery, Xi will interpret this as weakness that could facilitate his envelopment of Taiwan.
In the Foreign Service and subsequently, I was aware of what I characterize as CREEP, CREEP, CREEP, CRAP! In retrospect, this is what Obama did when Putin seized portions of Ukraine in 2014.
We and the allies that President Biden has mustered globally must resolutely support Ukraine during the difficult months ahead. Failure to support Ukraine and oppose Putin’s nefarious ambition would likely trigger a CCCC string of dominos.
I am pleased that Senator McConnell (not one of my favorites) has clearly stated that support for Ukraine is an American imperative. This is a moment for bipartisan support for a vital American global priority.
Professor Snyder is not just an eminent academic but a great orator, too! This latest piece moved me to tears. I would like to put here the link for the new donation effort that was posted last week. Some people had difficulty donating, hopefully, it is because too many of us lined up to contribute. Please persist. It is truly a matter of life and death. https://u24.gov.ua/safeskies
The House Republicans and their god chosen leader MAGA Mike are allies of Putin and the American billionaires that are paying billions to support his aggression. This is not an exaggeration. Look no further than the $1,400,000,000 tax free money given to Leonard Leo. To what ends are the hundreds of millions of dollars in dark money legalized by the judges and justices paid for with Leonard Leo money being g used?
The alliance of American and Russian Oligarchs is funding the Republican project of increasing the divisions in America that supports the inequality that is dismantling our democracy. And House Republicans led by the christian nationalist Mike Johnson are turning the Constitution on its head to support their true employers.
How do we get this well articulated, and passionate discussion into the right hands. The argument is conclusive. I don’t think we’re fatigued, I think it is the trump base/house extremists who want to just hold everybody hostage to demonstrate how “powerful “ they think they are. It’s all BS. Onward March, please.
For more than two decades, KKK Grand Wizard and GOP gadfly David Duke has sold America's racist right wing on Vladimir Putin as the Great White Hope for white supremacy. Duke heralded Putin, GW Bush was an apologist for Putin, and Trump anointed Putin. Of course, many Republican elected officials want to stop aid to Ukraine. Speaker Johnson's maiden aid legislation, cutting out Ukraine, is in keeping with former Pres. Trump's threat to blackmail Pres. Zelensky. Both are cynical steps of a Republican party bent on replacing democracy with clerical fascism - at home and abroad.
It is possible to find that there is more than one side in the Gaza conflict, but how is it possible to feel there are two sides in Putin's War. When I used to teach classes on the Shoah, a student might sometimes ask me why I didn't consider the other side. And I would say: sometimes there is only one side. In Ukraine there is only one side!
There is no question of the need for unwavering and effective support for the Ukraine by democracies everywhere. To date, the military support has been reminiscent of the experience of a one-time customer of mine. Given a diagnosis of Stage 1 prostrate cancer, he chose to treat it with herbal and dietary remedies. By the time he became aware that his chosen approach wasn't working the disease had progressed to Stage 4, metastatic, and so he died. What he should have done was to immediately and aggressively treat the disease. Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin is a cancer on the planet and must be resected at once. The West needs to increase military aid to Ukraine both in quantity and quality. There is no excuse for the continuation of half-measures.
"From the point of view of all observers, in other words, defunding Ukraine would demonstrate enormous American weakness." This above all. The Rs in the House Freedom Caucus are thinking only about staying in power, which they do in part by entertaining the R base with show trials of all the people they don't like. They're not the kind of people who are into thinking past their immediate desires. They talk about China endlessly, yet apparently aren't capable of thinking through the consequences of their policy towards Ukraine. They have neither the background nor the mental acuity to to think past whatever they're doing in the present. When the consequences of their own ideas smack them in the face, they will not say, "Oh, NOW I understand," because they can't, not because of an unwillingness to admit mistakes, but because they quite literally cannot. Their minds don't work that way; their thinking is highly compartmentalized, which means they can't make connections. I've been following these people for many, many years. They live in the present. That's all they understand. They can't follow an idea through to its logical conclusions.
Thank God my representative is a solid supporter of Ukraine.
I stopped right here reading, just to reflect. I imagine others of conscious will too. There can be no abandoning Ukraine. Not now. Not ever. I can not imagine what it is like to know other human beings who have suffered this much atrocity. Thank you Dr. Snyder for continuing to be a voice for all humanity.
"I cannot keep on writing about "imagining" when I have seen some of the death pits myself. I cannot say "imagine" when writers I know have been murdered because they represent Ukrainian culture. I cannot stay with my device when I read that the Russian state boasts of having taken 700,000 Ukrainian children to be russified, when every day Russian propagandists make clear that Russian war aims are exterminationist."
The first article I read in my email news feed this morning was the NYT article reporting the censure of Representative Tlaib for her statements regarding the Israel-Hamas war.
I know that words are important. I recognize that statements can be inflammatory or worse, and I write this neither in support or to condemn Representative Tlaib, but my thoughts after reading the story were; GOP leaders in the House won't support Ukraine and propose aid to Israel conditional on cutting funding for the IRS to "pay the bill", (false accounting but that's another story). Yet the House can take the time, while it isn't doing anything else, to pass a censure resolution.
Fortunately, the second item in my news feed was the link to Professor Snyder's piece "Would you sell them out?". This is what every Representative and Senator should be reading this morning and acting upon with an affirmative vote to pass the Administration's aid initiative. I will be sending Dr. Snyder's message with my own note to my Senators and Representative.
I don't buy the argument that Americans are fatigued by the war in Ukraine and a ready to toss in the towel. I think the American people are in perhaps 4 camps. 1) Pure pacifists who oppose all wars. A very small group. 2) Americans who have never heard of Ukraine and couldn't care less one way or the other. Probably more of these than we care to admit. 3) MAGA Republicans controlled by Trump who is controlled by Putin. Trump's cult plus the House Majority plus a half dozen or so Senators. Not a large group, but very influential for obvious reasons. 4) The majority of the American people who recognize the heroism of the Ukrainian people and want to support their efforts any way we can. Maybe pollsters and politicians should start listening to us, instead of obsessing about the pro-Putin Republicans.
Tim, this is so eloquently written and passionately presented that any person with a heart or conscience would be moved by it. In my corner of the world, I do not see support for Ukraine wavering. I see more Ukrainian flags in places I would not expect. The media is creating a false narrative based on those sympathetic ideologically with Putin or actively being paid by him. They all belong to the authoritarian party aka the GOP. Please keep up your advocacy!
I share Professor Snyder’s concern that the overriding concern for Ukraine’s survival after Putin’s brutal and sustained invasion is ebbing in the US and elsewhere. Nineteen months after Putin’s ‘special military operation,’ many people are being killed in a battle for survival where no clear victory currently is apparent.
Ukraine, except for the Republican House circus freak show, is not a major media focus. Israel/
Palestinians have captured the headlines, and a possible mid-November government shutdown is pending.
I am reminded of President Roosevelt’s desperate efforts to gain public and congressional support, when he saw that the future of Western civilization was threatened by Hitler with England hanging on by a thin thread.
As a former Foreign Service Officer, I fervently believe that Ukraine is of equally vital importance. What’s at stake is the integrity of a sovereign state that a rapacious Putin seeks to destroy in the process of expanding his fantasy of a Greater Russia.
As former Defense Secretary Robert Gates wrote in the current Foreign Affairs, the US and its allies are aligned against Russia’s Putin and China’s Xi. If we permit Putin to get away with his brutal savagery, Xi will interpret this as weakness that could facilitate his envelopment of Taiwan.
In the Foreign Service and subsequently, I was aware of what I characterize as CREEP, CREEP, CREEP, CRAP! In retrospect, this is what Obama did when Putin seized portions of Ukraine in 2014.
We and the allies that President Biden has mustered globally must resolutely support Ukraine during the difficult months ahead. Failure to support Ukraine and oppose Putin’s nefarious ambition would likely trigger a CCCC string of dominos.
I am pleased that Senator McConnell (not one of my favorites) has clearly stated that support for Ukraine is an American imperative. This is a moment for bipartisan support for a vital American global priority.
Professor Snyder is not just an eminent academic but a great orator, too! This latest piece moved me to tears. I would like to put here the link for the new donation effort that was posted last week. Some people had difficulty donating, hopefully, it is because too many of us lined up to contribute. Please persist. It is truly a matter of life and death. https://u24.gov.ua/safeskies
It seems that each time Professor Snyder posts an article, I think this is his best yet and cannot be topped. Then he goes and tops it!
My rep and Senators are strong supporters of Ukraine. I regularly contribute money too. So I posted this article to LinkedIn - hope it helps.
Would the House GOP sell out Ukraine? Indeed they would. They would sell their mother if they had to.
The House Republicans and their god chosen leader MAGA Mike are allies of Putin and the American billionaires that are paying billions to support his aggression. This is not an exaggeration. Look no further than the $1,400,000,000 tax free money given to Leonard Leo. To what ends are the hundreds of millions of dollars in dark money legalized by the judges and justices paid for with Leonard Leo money being g used?
The alliance of American and Russian Oligarchs is funding the Republican project of increasing the divisions in America that supports the inequality that is dismantling our democracy. And House Republicans led by the christian nationalist Mike Johnson are turning the Constitution on its head to support their true employers.
How do we get this well articulated, and passionate discussion into the right hands. The argument is conclusive. I don’t think we’re fatigued, I think it is the trump base/house extremists who want to just hold everybody hostage to demonstrate how “powerful “ they think they are. It’s all BS. Onward March, please.
For more than two decades, KKK Grand Wizard and GOP gadfly David Duke has sold America's racist right wing on Vladimir Putin as the Great White Hope for white supremacy. Duke heralded Putin, GW Bush was an apologist for Putin, and Trump anointed Putin. Of course, many Republican elected officials want to stop aid to Ukraine. Speaker Johnson's maiden aid legislation, cutting out Ukraine, is in keeping with former Pres. Trump's threat to blackmail Pres. Zelensky. Both are cynical steps of a Republican party bent on replacing democracy with clerical fascism - at home and abroad.
It is possible to find that there is more than one side in the Gaza conflict, but how is it possible to feel there are two sides in Putin's War. When I used to teach classes on the Shoah, a student might sometimes ask me why I didn't consider the other side. And I would say: sometimes there is only one side. In Ukraine there is only one side!
There is no question of the need for unwavering and effective support for the Ukraine by democracies everywhere. To date, the military support has been reminiscent of the experience of a one-time customer of mine. Given a diagnosis of Stage 1 prostrate cancer, he chose to treat it with herbal and dietary remedies. By the time he became aware that his chosen approach wasn't working the disease had progressed to Stage 4, metastatic, and so he died. What he should have done was to immediately and aggressively treat the disease. Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin is a cancer on the planet and must be resected at once. The West needs to increase military aid to Ukraine both in quantity and quality. There is no excuse for the continuation of half-measures.
"From the point of view of all observers, in other words, defunding Ukraine would demonstrate enormous American weakness." This above all. The Rs in the House Freedom Caucus are thinking only about staying in power, which they do in part by entertaining the R base with show trials of all the people they don't like. They're not the kind of people who are into thinking past their immediate desires. They talk about China endlessly, yet apparently aren't capable of thinking through the consequences of their policy towards Ukraine. They have neither the background nor the mental acuity to to think past whatever they're doing in the present. When the consequences of their own ideas smack them in the face, they will not say, "Oh, NOW I understand," because they can't, not because of an unwillingness to admit mistakes, but because they quite literally cannot. Their minds don't work that way; their thinking is highly compartmentalized, which means they can't make connections. I've been following these people for many, many years. They live in the present. That's all they understand. They can't follow an idea through to its logical conclusions.
Thank God my representative is a solid supporter of Ukraine.
Brilliant. When articulated with clarity and purpose, imagining the worst can be a catalyst for realizing the best.
Putin has mastered the psychology of how to make Americans who may oppose him "feel" fatigued. Ugly American entitlement is a bitch.
I stopped right here reading, just to reflect. I imagine others of conscious will too. There can be no abandoning Ukraine. Not now. Not ever. I can not imagine what it is like to know other human beings who have suffered this much atrocity. Thank you Dr. Snyder for continuing to be a voice for all humanity.
"I cannot keep on writing about "imagining" when I have seen some of the death pits myself. I cannot say "imagine" when writers I know have been murdered because they represent Ukrainian culture. I cannot stay with my device when I read that the Russian state boasts of having taken 700,000 Ukrainian children to be russified, when every day Russian propagandists make clear that Russian war aims are exterminationist."
The first article I read in my email news feed this morning was the NYT article reporting the censure of Representative Tlaib for her statements regarding the Israel-Hamas war.
I know that words are important. I recognize that statements can be inflammatory or worse, and I write this neither in support or to condemn Representative Tlaib, but my thoughts after reading the story were; GOP leaders in the House won't support Ukraine and propose aid to Israel conditional on cutting funding for the IRS to "pay the bill", (false accounting but that's another story). Yet the House can take the time, while it isn't doing anything else, to pass a censure resolution.
Fortunately, the second item in my news feed was the link to Professor Snyder's piece "Would you sell them out?". This is what every Representative and Senator should be reading this morning and acting upon with an affirmative vote to pass the Administration's aid initiative. I will be sending Dr. Snyder's message with my own note to my Senators and Representative.