We've all seen the images. They remind us of the horror of war. The affirm for us the devastation of heavy munitions, be they be delivered by artillery or from the air. The tragedy of civilian injuries and deaths who are in the line of fire are on the front pages of every news website and newspaper. There is no escaping it.
Now we've all seen the deliberate killing of civilians by Russians. Not just killing, but horrific stories are emerging. Bit by bit, the stories of dead people with their hands tied behind their backs, of poorly disguised mass graves, of torture chambers. The most excruciating stories involve children. 10 year old girls who were multiple rape victims and then killed. Women with swastika's burned into their skin. Beheadings. It's all nauseating. Since most of the men are off actively defending the country, most of the deaths are of women and children. And there is no doubt in most people's minds that this has occurred. Decry social media all you want and I'll in large measure be right there with you, but Twitter has brought the world images and videos that would otherwise have never seen the light of day.
We've now seen that the Russians have come out blaming Ukraine for these atrocities. They claim that Ukraine is killing its own citizens, bombing its own cities, and creating these devastating scenes to garner world support. As my Dad might have said, "that dog won't hunt". The Russians are despicable bullies. So no one will believe it, but they will continue to promote these lies. But the other thing they are are survivors. Think Leningrad. I don't agree with Biden on much, but the thing I do is that Putin is a war criminal and has to go. I'm not too interested in trial. I'd opt for other means.
All of this has me thinking of how the U.S. has reacted in past wars of my lifetime. The fact is that the U.S. has been reluctant to get involved in large-scale wars for our entire history. Now don't get me wrong, we've been involved in plenty of noble (WWII) and stupid (Vietnam) efforts. But our instinct is to sit back and make decisions of support based on our interests. After all, we are an island nation surrounded by wide oceans and mostly friendly neighbors. But there have been times when we were compelled to act.
We're told by leaders in our country and NATO that the West is providing a massive amount of weaponry to Ukraine. You can listen to almost any official in the know and they will rattle off a list of equipment that is being sent forward and how much we're spending. Of course, there is no timetable on any of this so whether it's a list that is sitting on some bureaucrats desk in Washington or Brussels or is being urgently and actively pursued is unknown. It's probably somewhere in the middle. I also believe there are some classified systems that are being provided which will make a difference...but that's another story.
So as I sit here in the comfort of my secure home in SoCal, it's pretty easy to make pronouncements regarding what we should be doing. So what should we do? All in or stay out of it? Should we gather a coalition of the willing in NATO and drive the Russians out? Should we continue to supply equipment, intelligence and advice so Putin doesn't have an excuse to respond, possibly with nuclear weapons? Should we pull back what we're doing today and watch from a distance?
The atrocities being perpetuated in Ukraine make it compelling (at least for me) that at a minimum the pressure ramps up. The Russians need to be isolated and broken. Ideally, a worldwide boycott of Russian oil should be proposed and implemented. That's the economic sanction that will make a difference. Other stuff is interesting, but if their oil exports shrivel up they are doomed. This would require that we backtrack from our severely impactful restrictive green policies, but so be it in the short run to hurt Russia. Militarily, we should increase providing anything that the Ukrainians want. And we should provide it quickly.
The key question is "what about boots on the ground"? For me the answer would be...maybe. I definitely believe we should never rule anything out. We are seeing a Ukrainian military that has been able (with help) to not only defend their country but also push the Russians back. So if that continues, then we should continue to watch and support. But if they start to weaken and to take more casualties than they can absorb, then maybe. There have slimply been too many times in history when the civilized world watched bullies like Putin devastate other countries with no consequences. Many will say that he has nuclear weapons and we can't provide a provocation for use. But being afraid of the bully's actions has never worked. Never. There are examples of this throughout history.
But here's the danger. People today have short attention spans. Same with the media. The 24-hour news cycle rules. It's been more than a month since the invasion so people are already starting to turn to other things. Depending on your news source you've probably seen other things starting to dominate the news. One thing that helps to keep Ukraine in the news is their President, Zelenskyy. He has been heroic in rallying support for his people and as long as he continues, the media will pay attention. Couple that with the devastating images coming out of the country and support will continue...for now.
Ukrainians have proven to be heroic figures. In this world of conciliation, they have proven to have a spine. Rather than capitulate to the bully or run away or give up, they are standing and fighting. But the wages of this heroism are high. In many parts of the country their homes and land has been obliterated. They have had to send their women and children to safety while the men fight for their homes. They have conducted guerrilla warfare against the 3rd biggest army in the world. They've done this in the midst of a bitter winter. By all accounts, with help from the West they are winning. Or at least holding their own. It's astounding and was never predictable.
I like to think that Americans are cut from the same cloth. Maybe not all...but enough. History is not static. It ebbs and flows. I'm positive that the vast majority of Americans think it could never happen here and to a large extent they may be right. Or at least it would be difficult to envision it here for the foreseeable future. When I look around I sometimes think we'll be engaged in an internal fight before we have to repel invaders. We've tried that once before. It didn't end well. I don't have any answers and am as distressed as the next guy over our internal dissension. When you look at Ukraine today, it's an obvious case of the bad guys against the good guys. Everyone wants to be on the side of the good guys. In that sense...."We are all Ukraine". In our case it might be the good guys against the good guys. And that would be an epic tragedy.