Friends, my latest article upbraids the West for what I regard as a wildly unrealistic and dangerously provocative form of intervention in the Russia-Ukraine War. In particular, I regard Germany's (soft) belligerence as a huge mistake that is almost certain to goad Russia into herculean efforts to crush Ukraine once and for all. See if you don't agree with my point of view...
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In other news, Ronna McDaniel is keeping her job as Chair of the RNC. That blows the minds of many conservatives and Republicans, given that the GOP has underperformed (by some measures) in three election cycles in a row, but then again McDaniel has presided over big Republican gains in terms of fundraising and voter mobilization. It isn't so much that Republicans have done badly in recent elections. It's that Democrats have done better, or at least they've made maximum and very judicious use of their resources, and they've got motivating their base, even when their own candidates are duds, down to a science. Anyway, we're stuck with Ronna, so let's hope she can figure it all out by 2024.
Dr.Waddy from Jack: I've read that it is customary for every Russian wedding day to include a visit to the "Great Patriotic War" memorial in most cities and towns. Germany did the worst to Russia that any country has ever done another and it took an awful lot of Germans to do it. A German soldier wrote home "they know what we bring". When a very high ranking German government official cffers: "we are at war with Russia" the potential impact on Russia must be incalculable.What!? Russian and German tanks fighting each other again in Ukraine. . . . UKRAINE?! This beggars the imagination! Is the ill considered prospect of inclusion of Ukraine in Nato , the cause of this war,worth presenting such an affront and understandably perceived mortal threat to Russia? That Russia accepted German reunification was a miracle but the west has foolishly persisted in trying Russian patience. It may be a Cuban Missile Crisis in reverse.
ReplyDeleteDr.Waddy from Jack: How would we have regarded an independent Texas in the Warsaw Pact?
ReplyDeleteHear hear! It's as if the West is entirely unacquainted with Russian history... Much of the Cold War, in fact, can be read as the product of Russian fears (understandable!) that Germany would reunite and reemerge as a threat. They would do almost anything to prevent that, including build a wall around West Berlin -- nay, all of Eastern Europe! As you say, they got over their German anxieties (mostly), but pressing them on Ukraine is really too much. It's naive beyond belief.
ReplyDeleteDr.Waddy from Jack: Nato includes some of the most civilized and relatively humane of countries and developments favorable for us since the astonishing fall of the communist curse (outside N.Korea, Cuba and the american academy) have been many. But we just can't have it our way all the time. Peoples deeply brutalized and consequently inured to hardship like the Rus must be taken for what their history has proven them to be. The bear is a good symbol for Russia; trifle with it and you risk its monstrous wrath. Even when it appears down it is capable of terrible destruction. Threatening Russia with unendurable Ukrainian membership has produced the tragedy for Ukraine which common sense should have told us was inevitable. True, we did not expect Ukraine to fight this hard and maybe successfully as it has. Mostly we just kinda presumed Russia would continue backing up as it had since 1989.NYET! They warned us in Georgia. Now what?
ReplyDeleteI agree, Jack -- anyone with a decent head on his shoulders could see this tragedy coming. Not for the first or last time, the West has decided to "help" a beleaguered people, and said people may now be wondering if accepting our help was the greatest mistake they ever made.
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