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Ukraine’s War Is Our War
In case your blood pressure just took a leap, I’m not saying that we should be standing alongside Ukrainians fighting against the Russians. I don’t think anyone in their right mind thinks that’s a good idea. But as I watch their war unfold and analyze what is happening, more and more their war is beginning to sound more and more like the “war” we are experiencing in our own country. If you get past the cultural and structural differences comparing the relationship of Ukraine and Russia, and our own Communists who are finally admitting who they are, with patriots who love this country and its founders, the similarities are eerie.
The United States has been fighting a civil war, but we’ve only recognized that truth in recent years. The seeds for war were being planted by the political Left at all levels of our country right under our noses: government, education, and the corporate world. But we either ignored the signs or didn’t bother to notice them. Worse, we may have seen them, but in our own arrogance, we assumed those doing the work of the Left were nutcases and were no threat to the country.
We made the same assumption about Russia and Ukraine. We chose to ignore Putin’s actions and words, believing Putin was just reminiscing, and assumed that Ukraine’s difficulties were not our difficulties.
Over the years, a Ukrainian identity developed, but many citizens also identified with Russians. In the case of Ukraine, however, their allegiance to Ukraine and a Ukrainian identity coalesced when Russians attacked their borders.
Our identity in America, in spite of efforts to create a melting pot, has become degraded over recent years. Polarization has developed between Socialism/Communism and the American ethos. Although some people have begun to realize that the Left’s intention is to convert us to Communism, the impetus on our side hasn’t shown up for us to resist their efforts.
Ukrainians witnessed in the past, but especially witnessed in recent weeks, the tyranny of the Russians. They have lied about everything: their goals, their intentions, their plans; after offering to establish safe passage for Ukrainians out of the country, or at one point stating they would not bomb civilians, the Russians have repeatedly betrayed their promises.
In the US, we have watched the Left and their henchmen in the medical, government and corporate communities repeatedly lie to the people in this country, just like the Russians. They have ignored the promises they’ve made, moved the goalposts, and changed the “science” when it suits them. Unlike the Ukrainians who are learning the “lay of the land” at the hands of the Russians, Americans continue to hide from the truth.
Ironically, many Americans on the Left who are celebrating the courage and efforts of the Ukrainians haven’t acknowledged that the Ukrainians are battling the very ideas that the Left is promoting. While Ukraine fights tyranny, the Left in our country celebrates it. While Ukraine tries to protect the integrity of its borders, our Left continues to leave us vulnerable to invading aliens. And the rest of us feel helpless to stop the invasion.
In Ukraine, the people are very frightened, but they are using their fear to mobilize their country and inspire each other. Everyone is learning more every day about Russia’s intentions. Ukrainian mothers and children are either hunkering down or leaving the country, as the men in their lives insist on fighting back or are returning to join their fellow Ukrainians to fight to save the country. Many of them will die. Many Ukrainians are rejecting their Russian identity and embracing Ukraine. We may not see it yet, but Ukraine’s war is our war.
Ukraine is holding up the mirror for us. And whom do we see? Do we see patriotic Americans who would fight for their country to protect its freedom and borders? Do we see people who realize what is at stake and will transcend our fear in order to save one of the greatest countries in the free world? Are we starting to remove our blinders and discard reticence, because we see through the tragedy in Ukraine what it takes to survive as the last best bastion of freedom?
Or will we give up?
Published in Culture
Susan, I’m not sure about this. Putin’s Russia seems to be at least as much on our side in the culture war as the Ukrainians, though I don’t get the impression that the Ukrainians are particularly gung-ho about the woke agenda.
I’m also not sure why you have concluded that the long-standing cultural split in Ukraine, sort of pro-West vs. pro-Russian, has been resolved in the past 10 days. Most of the news coverage is saying this, but I don’t know why we should believe anything they say at this time. Most of the coverage, to me, seems to be propaganda designed to draw us into the war. I take a wait-and-see attitude about the long-term effects, if any.
If Putin is smart, and I think that he is, he’ll try to avoid major damage in the traditionally pro-Russian parts of Ukraine. He seems to be doing this, for the most part, at least from what I can tell about the progress of the war.
The main Russian effort seems to be toward Kiev, which is in the pro-Western region. There’s been a significant advance north from Crimea, heading east to link up with Donbas and heading northwest (in the direction of Kiev, so far, but this force might turn southwest and head toward Odessa).
I’ve seen some reports from the city of Kherson, a bit northwest of Crimea at the mouth of the Dnieper, and it looks like the Ukrainians fought for the city a bit, but that civilian casualties were quite light (at least as reported so far). The mayor seems to remain in place, having made a ceasefire deal with the Russians.
It does appear that there’s been some tough fighting in the southeast, at a city called Mariupol, but I can’t tell whether it was being defended by Ukrainian military units or by local irregulars. This city appears surrounded, and the reports that I’ve seen indicate that the Russians cut off services, but also agreed to a ceasefire to allow civilians to leave. (The ceasefire then reportedly broke down, and news reports blame the Russians for this, which doesn’t actually make sense — why would the Russians offer a ceasefire and then break it? It seems more plausible that Ukrainian military forces in the city tried to take advantage of the ceasefire to escape. This, though, is just speculation based on incentives.)
I’m also very skeptical about the idea that Ukraine is some sort of great democracy. The place is notoriously corrupt, isn’t it? They’ve had a series of coups, attempted coups, and messy elections over the past 20 years or so.
I can’t predict the future. If it turns out that the Russians win pretty easily, as I suspect, and that favorable reports thus far have been lies by the Zelensky government, public opinion might shift pretty quickly.
Since you ignored my main point, Jerry and added things I never said, I’m not going to respond to your comment.
So is Chicago. So is the state of Illinois. So is New York City, Boston, and the state of Rhode Island.
So what?
You can’t account for the past. One might wonder how you handle the present.
Or one might not.
I also did not say anything about Ukraine being “some sort of great democracy.” Thanks, too, Percival
We should only be able to show a smidgen of their courage in this country. Thanks, Kozak.
Man am I sick of this Cr#p.
As I stated before, we have been a self governing Republic for over 200 years.
What’s our excuse?
Corruption? Look at The Big Guy and his coke snorting kid, and the rest of his family with their hand in the cookie jar. Ukraine and China.
Did the Ukrainians do business with them. Yup. No other way to survive. Pay the Don, or “nice country you got there shame if something happened to it.”
Not to mention Nancy ” I have a better stock return rate than Hedge Fund Managers” Pelosi.
Biden, Romney, Kerry and Pelosi all had kids working for Ukrainian gas and oil companies.
How many of our Senators got caught dumping stocks just before Covid exploded?
Messy elections for 20 years and coups? We had a national election stolen right before our eyes in 2020.
Remember the mess in 2000, more then 20 years ago with Bush/ Gore ? How messy was that.
How about the amazing 115% turnout we routinely see in elections in Big Blue Cities in America. Or the endless ballots that turn up days, weeks, months later that are just enough to turn an election for the Democrat? Jesus I grew up in Chicago and my entire life I have seen the political corruption that permeates us.
Look in the mirror.
And so what? How is becoming slaves to Russia, Russia! going to help that corruption problem?
We have no standing to lecture the Ukrainians on corruption.
I agree. That’s why I didn’t bring it into the mix. But I’m glad you did.
Sorry, Susan. I guess that I didn’t understand your main point.
Are you arguing that our Left is just like Putin? Because Putin is socially conservative and nationalistic, it seems to me, the opposite of our Left.
I sympathize with the sentiment that “Ukraine’s War is our War”.
However, I think the situation in Ukraine is spinning out of control to Russia’s advantage. We have waited way too long to supply Ukraine. Our Military and our Supreme Leader knew that this war could be coming for weeks and seemingly did nothing to prepare Ukraine. Their incompetence borders on willful Treason. Now it may be too late.
Supplying planes or doing a “No Fly Zone” risks a major confrontation with Russia which could be a disaster for all of us, yet there are a multitude of other ways in military assistance we can and should be giving.
Here’s one suggestion by “Ed Sherdlu” at American Thinker:
His idea: the weapon we (could) supply to the Ukrainians can make any Russian offensive untenable. Officially it’s the M39A1 missile. It’s known to the troops as the B-BAM. The two Bs stand for Big and Bad, and the M equals Missile. I’ll let you figure out the A.
Image: Russian-made PT76 tank at Ben Het, Vietnam. Public domain.
The B-BAM rides to battle on the back of a tank-like vehicle. Each transporter carries two missiles. Those very accurate GPS-navigated missiles can be ready to fire moments after the transporter pulls off the road. They have a range of up to 300 km, but it’s what they do when they get to the target that’s really interesting.
Rather than having one big warhead, the M39A1 carries 300 small bomblets. As the missile descends on the target, the nosecone separates. This spreads the bomblets over a wide target area. The small bombs don’t create the huge explosions you currently see on cable TV. But those 300 small explosions are perfect for destroying equipment and disabling vehicles. And yes, since Civil War General Sherman already told us “War Is Hell,” we must admit they do a great job of killing or wounding enemy soldiers.
At 300 km, Ukrainian soldiers or Blackwater Military Advisors using such missile are way removed from the Russian Troops, or their fighters but still can do great damage to the Russian Troops and their so-called 40 mile long convoy. We need to stop the Russian advance now and this could be a way to do it.
It seems you do not understand either the American left or Putin, if you believe they are opposites.
You make my point, Unsk. Biden/the Left has demonstrated our incompetence to the Ukrainians and feckless response to their needs, and our Left has demonstrated their incompetence and lack of investment in the country to everyone else here. The weapon you described sounds fascinating! Can we hope that Biden “gets it”? I’m not optimistic about the Ukrainians or our country.
Have you not noticed that our Left and Putin are both despotic and do not tolerate individual liberty?
Jerry, did you read that paragraph after you posted it? I don’t know what side of the “culture war” you are on, but if you agree with what you said, you are not on the same, conservative, side as I am — probably not even in the same world. I wonder, what is your definition of conservative? The same as Attila the Hun, perhaps?
Ukraine’s war is our war in the same way that Hungary’s war was our war in 1956, Czechoslovakia’s war was our war in 1968, Afghanistan’s war was our war in 1979, Poland’s war was our war in the 1980s, and the war in Tiananmen was our war in 1989.
Did we have a significantly powerful Leftist movement trying to take over our country in those days?
We certainly did by the late 1970s. The McGovernites were certainly trying. Going into the 1980 election all the best and brightest were trying to figure out how to best manage our “inevitable” defeat by the Soviet Union. Then Reagan was elected. within a dozen years the Soviet Union had disintegrated.
Yes.
So my question is, even without the disintegration of the Soviet Union, would the Left have been so far Left that they would have taken over this country? Had they permeated our institutions, as they described them in the post, to the same degree? @misthiocracy, I’d like to ask you the same question. Were they a genuine threat to our democracy?
The corruption in various forms that exists abundantly in America and in the Ukraine probably influences the perception of accuracy in the title of this post. That might be a cause of the divergence we see in the views expressed by @arizonapatriot.
I know little about the forms of corruption in Ukraine but I have some views on what I think I see in the United States. It seems to be most closely related to money, power, and sexual activity. These things are then connected to positions in business, politics, and crime. We have seen enough recently in America to yield an understanding of how control in these various areas can provide a shield against charges of wrongdoing.
The catch is that I didn’t mention corruption in my post because I don’t know that level of detail about corruption. I figured that the efforts of the Left were insidious enough to compare them to Putin. Even if the Left was very active in the 20th century, I’d be surprised to learn that they had infiltrated to the degree we see today. The media is another example: always Leftist, but not to this degree, and not as ardently. Thanks, Bob.
Political lying is a form corruption in which the politicos present arguments for their political positions that are false. I put forth “man-caused climate change” as a classic example.
I think of it more of an insurrection of commies along with a *lot* of corruption.
I don’t know that I see our situation mapped onto this conflict. For one thing, the American people are a lot more nice to minorities thank the government of Ukraine.
I think it might be a number of Commies augmented by an even larger number of know-nothing fellow travelers along with a lot of corruption, much of it criminal.
You mean that we failed all those challenges, I presume? If so, I agree completely.
Aha! Bob and Susan are both “climate deniers,” I see.
Jim: Aha! Bob and Susan are both “climate deniers,” I see.
Funny thing is that America reduced it’s carbon footprint by over 40% these last twenty years by switching to natural gas, but now our Supreme Leader wants to eliminate that reliance and replace it with what exactly? Oh ya , renewables are the ticket except that with an exception of one or two possibilities that have yet to be realized, renewables can’t give you reliable power in a major way, so we would then have many long periods of blackouts.
If you’re not willing to fight in it then it isn’t really your war. Fair enough, Ukraine isn’t your country.
my response in italics….