The atrocities and horrors of war are real and lasting. As Americans, since the start of this century, we have long been spared civilian casualties, inexplicable loss of life, and troop casualties in the thousands (with the exception of the deaths from the 9/11 attacks).
Despite a more than 20-year conflict in Afghanistan, and nearly two decades in Iraq, unless you were related to military personnel or contractors in those high-risk theaters in the Middle East, warfare for millions has seemed both out of sight and out of mind.
And though world news media pays significant attention to U.S. politics, our economy, and military conflicts, our international coverage and attention going the other way in many ways continues to shrink. Warfare, like famine and pestilence, exists at varying levels on five continents.
Lives will be lost and civilians and even children will get caught in the crossfire, but among those ongoing conflicts that still matter greatly to geopolitics and the United States’ place in this world is the war in Ukraine with Russia.
Ukraine has been making steady progress, retaking territory and even cities previously under Russian occupation or control. This war is far from over, and I would expect the bloodshed to continue for some time. Yes, statesmanship and perhaps a negotiated settlement remain a possibility.
Still, Vladimir Putin has repeatedly demonstrated he cannot be trusted. He has been almost naked in his political ambition to reassemble the historic Russian Empire, which prior to World War I would include all of Ukraine and Crimea (previously ceded by Ukraine), plus Belarus, Georgia, Finland, most of Turkey, Armenia, and Poland. The old empire also includes the 6 “-istans,” not including Pakistan, of modern national borders.
British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain flew to Germany to visit Adolph Hitler in 1937 with hopes of avoiding war. Hitler committed after his occupancy of the Rhineland in 1936 and annexation of Austria in 1938, with Chamberlain further agreeing to German occupancy of the Sudetenland, the German-speaking regions of what became Czechoslovakia.
This appeasement action by Chamberlain became known as the Munich Agreement.
Hitler’s ambitions and conquests continued, however, with the rest of Czechoslovakia in March of 1939. Now clear that Hitler’s words and treaties were not going to bind his military ambitions, just six months later, in September 1939, Germany invaded Poland.
Two days later, honoring prior commitments to Poland, on September 3, 1939, France and Great Britain declared war on Germany. Chamberlain would lose his position as Britain’s prime minister in March 1940 and succumbed to death from cancer that November.
We can help Ukraine fight to restore its sovereign borders or support a negotiated settlement. With Ukraine earlier ceding to Russian annexation in 2014, along with its beaches and vast farmlands, it is difficult to know, considering Ukraine’s vast natural gas resources, where Russia might want to draw new borderlines.
However, if we follow the path of withdrawal of aid and appeasement, not only will we be backing out on the people of Ukraine, but our allies in NATO will see this same historic specter in these annexations. If we again break our word to our closest allies, what good is partnership with the United States?
And given that the people of Ukraine have been effectively fighting back almost since the beginning of this conflict on February 24, 2022, and doing more with much less than the superior forces they want to expel, once Putin next moves on a nation already part of NATO, whether or not the U.S. responds should not be a subject for debate, due to promises and treaties already in place among all NATO members.
If Russia is allowed all of Ukraine, this will also embolden China to act on its long-stated desire to seize Taiwan, potentially followed by the Philippines, America Samoa, and even Guam.
Yes, as a nation with many troubled domestic agenda items, an argument can be made for isolationism, but we made our bed two World Wars ago as being the beacon of freedom and liberty and the global champion for self-determination and democracy. What is the price tag or budget available for that?
We can stand with the people of Ukraine now, or perhaps review either version of the movie “ Red Dawn” and get ready for more Putin and a bigger Russia on the world stage in the not-too-distant future.