Defiant Ukraine

PUTIN’S QUAGMIRE

Defiant Ukraine, led by the refreshingly courageous and confident Volodymyr Zelensky, has boldly ensnarled the unscrupulous Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin into a hellish quagmire. Furthermore, they have clearly exposed Putin’s incompetent military and barbaric tactics. Nonetheless, the bestial Russian war machine continues to slog its way toward Kyiv. However, two weeks into his misadventure, Putin has abandoned his blitzkrieg to conquer an intact Ukraine. Moreover, he has now pivoted to destroying the Ukrainian nation and erasing the Ukrainian people. Then, on March 13, he sent a clear message to Washington and Brussels by striking within ten miles of Poland. Consequently, he continues to demand that America and NATO butt out while he bludgeons Ukraine. Beyond crippling sanctions, America, and NATO, cautiously consider how to better assist Ukraine to repel Putin’s nightmare and ultimately prevail. Meanwhile, Putin’s unmasked enabler China awkwardly feigns neutrality.       

FALSE PREMISE

Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, the former Warsaw Pact nations and the Baltic Republics joined NATO for security. Likewise, they aligned economically and socially with Europe. Furthermore, this was the wish of Ukraine, Georgia, and Moldova. In response, Putin mercilessly reduced Grozny, Georgia to rubble. Then he seized Crimea from Ukraine. Putin, and lately American conservative isolationists, claimed Russia to be “threatened” and it was a mistake for NATO to expand. Some commentators blame America and NATO for Putin’s invasion to restore a Ukrainian puppet government. However, prior to Putin’s aggression, liberal western leaders were more focused on climate change. And they made Europe energy dependent upon Russia. But Putin’s brutality has galvanized the democracies, with Germany and the former Warsaw Pact leading the way. Moreover, President Joseph Biden’s cautious approach has avoided escalation and deprived Putin of the false premise that NATO is attacking Russia.

SHADOW OF THE HOLODOMOR

Putin’s attempt to bomb, starve, and freeze Ukraine reminds the world of the cruelty of Joseph Stalin. Firstly, between 1930 and 1933, four million Ukrainians perished in the great famine, known as the Holodomor, or death by hunger. This was when Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin ruthlessly deprived desperate Ukrainians of their livelihood, forcing them to eat grass, tree bark, flowers, vermin, and their pets. And some even resorted to cannibalism. Moreover, thirteen percent of the Ukrainian population perished. Fearful of Ukraine’s simmering nationalism, Stalin ruthlessly enforced “collectivization.” As Ukraine battles Russian invaders, with their cities surrounded and cut off from supplies, memories of the Holodomor and its links to the Kremlin are strong. Then, as now, desperate people jammed into trains to try to leave the country when Stalin and Putin tried to eradicate them.

STALIN’S SUCCESSOR

Putin’s propaganda machine denies that Russian troops are today pummeling Ukraine and indiscriminately killing civilians. Likewise, Stalin denied that the famine happened. Moreover, the communists maintained that the victims were “provocateurs” against the Soviet Union. Sound familiar? Stalin ordered that all official records of the famine be destroyed. However, the 1937 Soviet census was eight million people short of communist projections. Stalin arrested and executed the census director and his staff. Consequently, Stalin’s successor in Moscow similarly lies to his people and the world about his premeditated invasion of Ukraine, as well as the Holodomor. In 2015, Sputnik News, Putin’s propaganda website, published an article titled “Holodomor Hoax.” The famine, it claimed, was “one of the 20th century’s most famous myths and vitriolic pieces of anti-Soviet Propaganda.” Therefore, defiant Ukraine has reason to instinctively abhor and resist Putin’s immoral scorched earth tactics.

MOMENT OF TRUTH

Defiant Ukraine challenges risk-averse America and Europe. Still dealing with the repercussions of their botched withdrawal from Afghanistan, the American leadership is inexplicably busy resurrecting the fatally flawed Obama-era Iran nuclear deal. Moreover, the rush to deal with Teheran has alienated key allies. Likewise, this unforced error weirdly depends upon Russia as a mediator. Meanwhile, President Biden refuses to suspend his ideological war on fossil fuels. Therefore, he surrenders strategic initiative and advantage. Furthermore, he alienates Americans, infuriated by out-of-control gasoline prices. Consequently, Biden’s reluctance is counterproductive. However, he is also immobilized by Putin threatening nuclear blackmail. But sensible caution about a world war is not a reason to deny valiant Ukraine effective military support. This includes Polish MIG-29 jet fighters. Faced with an historic moment of truth, Biden methodically imposed harsh economic sanctions. Now, a decisive Biden must gather the courage to call Putin’s bluff.        

DEFEATING PUTIN

Enabled by China, Putin started this war, but America and NATO will have to end it. And hopefully not with a Ukrainian surrender, disguised as a compromise brokered by opportunistic China, which allows Putin to prevail. However, Zelensky and Ukrainian patriots have a nation to preserve. Ukrainian neutrality may be a plausible escape for Putin, if not permanent control of Crimea and independence for Eastern Ukraine. But with Putin hellbent on destroying Ukraine, it is difficult to see anything other than Armageddon, unless Ukraine wins. Moreover, each passing day makes the possibility of an outright Putin defeat appear plausible. False rationale, flawed assumptions, low morale, logistical issues, command incompetence and a brilliantly fierce Ukrainian resistance bedevil the Russian invaders. Therefore, Putin is busy defeating himself. Even a pyrrhic victory is now indistinguishable from defeat. Consequently, America and NATO should continue to assist by bleeding him militarily and breaking him economically.

Dennis M. Spragg is the author of America Ascendant, the Rise of American Exceptionalism and Glenn Miller Declassified.