This Is Putin’s War

Putin apologists (tankies) point to the U.S. often sticking its military nose in where it doesn’t belong. They’re right as it relates to Iran in the 1950s, Vietnam in the ’60s and ’70s, and Iraq 2003-2011. How does this justify Russia’s brutal aggression in Ukraine? It doesn’t! Nor is it justified by the threat of another potential NATO member on its border. Every sovereign nation has the right to its own alliances as well as the right to defend itself. If Putin’s feelings are hurt, he should cry in his vodka rather than commit genocide.

It’s blatant hypocrisy to point to the sordid history of U.S. violations of international agreements and atrocities (which are well known and not in dispute) and then be all too eager to give Vladimir Putin a free pass. Putin has committed atrocities in Ukraine, many of which would deservedly be classified as war crimes. What do we hear from these Putin tankies? Crickets.

As for the argument that negotiation does not equal appeasement, that depends on with whom you negotiate. In the 1938 Munich Agreement, Sudetenland (which was part of Czechoslovakia) was ceded to Hitler’s Germany. British PM Neville Chamberlain called this “peace with honor” and “peace for our time.” In rapid succession, Hitler invaded Poland (1939), Denmark (1940), Norway (1940), Belgium (1940), the Netherlands (1940), Luxembourg (1940), France (1940), Yugoslavia (1941), and Greece (1941). Father Charles Coughlin, Henry Ford, Walt Disney, Charles Lindbergh, and others actively supported Hitler and delayed our entry into WWII. Millions died who might have survived had we confronted this tyranny earlier.

Vladimir Putin has now taken over Crimea and parts of eastern Ukraine. Should we stand by and watch Ukraine become a satellite of a new Soviet empire? NATO’s Poland and Romania would then be on its border. If Putin attacked again, NATO’s charter demands a military response. That’s the harsh reality Putin’s disciples refuse to acknowledge. They masquerade as anti-war activists. They are, in fact, collaborators. Nothing more.

Slava Ukraini
Glory to Ukraine