Normally I agree with Victor Hanson, and here he's mostly very reasonable. But....Putin was moving against the 2014 USA coup in Kiev and the planned eviction of Russia from Crimea, and creating a Ukraine forward base against Russia, not so much moving against his neighbours.
With Putin’s nemesis, Trump, gone, Russia assumes the appeasement years of the Obama-Biden Administration are back again. As in 2014, once more Putin is moving against his neighbors.
Finally, there is the unfortunate role of recent Ukrainian governments. Some were deeply involved in greenlighting the Biden family grifting and profiteering to ensure massive American foreign aid.
Some Ukrainian expatriates and current government members worked with the American Left to ensure the first impeachment of Donald Trump.
I'd say Trump was more a partner of Russia and Putin than a nemesis. Trump and Putin could have acted in cahoots with India, Vietnam, Japan, South Korea and a lot more besides to stabilize the situation with Made in China, with the effective NATO border at the Great Wall of China rather than on the eastern edge of Bulgaria, Romania and Poland.
Instead of that, the stupid NATO gangsters with ringleader USA have forced Putin and Russia into a subordinate relationship with China. China's western border is now effectively at about Hungary, Finland, Norway, Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, Poland etc where the Golden Horde got to centuries ago before the Little Ice Age froze them out, along with a stretched empire and business in China, Japan, south Asia etc, not to mention the Turks and jihad from the middle east.
It's not too late. Tell Zelensky it's time to concede defeat, call a UN conference to officially make Donetsk and whatnot independent according to local referendum [like Brexit, Scotland, Ireland, Quebec, Northern Ireland as examples of referenda to determine political boundaries], and a division as of Yugoslavia where intractable differences made local yokel rule desirable. Accept that Putin was right and that Blundering Biden and hideous harpies Nuland, Clinto and co were wrong in creating the 2014 coup which they stupidly thought would result in Russia being booted out of Crimea, replaced by USA warships and nuclear armed cruise missiles, with Ukraine full of them too. Biden got his loot out of Ukraine via Hunter. The Democrats got their impeachment of Trump [Victor got that part right].
Thank Putin for dealing with the mess in Ukraine, apologize for stupidly thinking a re-run of attacks on Russia were a good idea. Form a partnership with Russia and buy their gas and oil flat out, and start trading bigly. Russia should be trading with the west, not the east.
Ukrainians shouldn't have cut off the water supply to Crimea. They shouldn't have been attacking the Russians in the eastern provinces. They should have negotiated a Scottish type independence, or conceded total independence. Now they are whining that they have got the response they should have expected. Yulia said they and their friends would raze Russia to the ground. Well bad luck Yulia.
Getting revenge against Stalin is past its use-by date. Zbig was doing that and so many still seem to be. He died half a century ago. It's time to move on.
Phone Putin, concede defeat. Apologize for being wrong. Stop the sanctions. Clean up the mess. Make Russia a partner not an enemy. Crimea stays in Russia. Donetsk and what have you become independent states. NATO does not expand eastwards unless Russia becomes part of NATO first. And we all live happily ever after.
Mqurice |
