While sparring on Twitter regarding the US position on the Ukraine war, I see patterns and trends in the opinions expressed. The war is now nearly a year long and appears it will be expanded as long as possible by Russia and armament manufacturers around the world and especially in the US. I’ve spent numerous posts stating summaries of the two primary positions, for and against assisting Ukraine, and asserting my own opinion that focused assistance of Ukraine is necessary, a position that’s counter to a majority of my conservative peers seemingly. What follows here is no definitive new position, but rather, a collection of meta impressions of Ukraine’s US critics.
- Russia started the war. Russia could end it today by going home. While this seems like an obvious ‘duh’proclamation, I get the impression that it’s lost on most of Ukraine’s critics.
- Anti-Ukraine fever is a cult religion to some as its rooted in nothing but personal feeling. Yes, I’m speaking to some of my fellow conservatives.
- No one seems to be calculating the effect and importance of internal disagreement within Russia and the near-term trajectory that it could affect.
- No one provides a plausible defense for the consequences of either a sound Ukrainian defeat or the hypothetical objective that they’d just quit. This becomes most challenging if this ethic were to be applied to our own homeland. Translated it would read like this: ‘Ukrainians, do unto yourself as we (mostly US opinion makers) would never countenance doing ourselves in a million years.’ If one’s policy opinions don’t pass this test, they shouldn’t be foisted on anyone else.
- Assumptions are rife that agreeing with Ukrainian defense must be in lockstep with hardline positions and profligate spending toward that end. One does not have to agree with what tactical decisions the Biden administration decided today to believe that Ukraine should not cave.
- Re: tactical moves, there are armchair experts claiming to know the specific impact of every tactical decision and delivery of every weapon system. I’ll state plainly here, I certainly don’t know. Any comments toward that argument should only be construed as, yes, no, less or more. Anyone’s opinion beyond that should be taken as bullsh*t without command experience in war.
- Europe has a strong track-record of making gargantuan historic miscalculations about itself. There’s a reason we’re still involved there, even beyond Ukraine, like it or not.
- I see evidence that a lot of people are parroting the messaging of a wild meme campaigns drawn along ideological lines over globalism rather than a traditional understanding of cold world balance of power. When the memes propose something ridiculous and people start to repeat it as gospel truth, this is confirmed.
- To some, Zelensky is a globalist shill.
- To some, Putin is a globalist shill. Putin’s public rhetoric and the patterns of his geographic actions suggest that his motivation is rooted in nothing but traditional Russian and Soviet control which includes the entire former East bloc, focusing first on strategic former assets. Rely on this rather than rumors of palace intrigue.
- When someone uses ‘Ukrainian atrocities’ as justification for an anti-Ukrainian stance, and ignore Russian atrocities, know there is something wrong with their process. Even though Russia is the aggressor and that a case for war crimes is already being built against them, we can and should acknowledge that both sides have committed atrocities and move on to the real issues about the war’s start and eventual finish.
- Putin will be dead very soon. It’s not guaranteed that the faction pushing for war expansion will successfully win control, that they’d successfully execute a ‘better’ war, or that they could simultaneously control their own State Duma and their internal constituencies. Remember how the Soviet Union fell.
- Fear of WWIII as justification for doing nothing does not lessen its risk.
- The party against support of Ukraine, if not secretly in favor of its genocide, cite the imperative for immediate negotiations with Russia. If that’s so essential to stop WW III, why would we need Ukraine to participate, comply or submit? At the end of the day, if every last Ukrainian is willing to fight to the death, aren’t we forced to abide by their choice? We could ask Germany to cede their entire republic to Russia as a concession since a poll shows that only 19% of their population is willing to fight for their own self-determination. I jest to make a point. The point is that all the alternatives to supporting Ukraine don’t lessen whatever impact we hope for ourselves, it just gives it to other nations and strongmen to decide for us. If you’re anti-Ukraine and aren’t willing to endorse or accept any of the alternatives, you have nothing to contribute here.
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