Posted on 02/06/2023 4:30:46 AM PST by MtnClimber
Are the borders of country 5,000 miles away more sacrosanct and more worth taking existential risks than our own airspace and southern border?
One of the strangest things about the American response to Ukraine has been the willingness of the Left and the establishment Right to discount completely that the war is heading toward a rendezvous with ever-deadlier weapons and staggering fatalities—even as we witness increasing nuclear threats from a weakened and adrift Vladimir Putin. They insist that Putin is merely saber-rattling. And he might be. Supposedly, in his diminished and discredited state, Putin would not dare to set off a tactical nuclear weapon (as if diminished and discredited leaders are not more likely to do so).
Proxies Versus Balloons But while we discount the nuclear dangers of a paranoid Putin reacting to the arming of our proxy Ukraine, the brazen Chinese, in violation of American airspace and international law, sent their recent “weather “ surveillance balloon across the continental United States with impunity. Only after public pressure, media coverage, and the Republican opposition did the Biden Administration, in the 11th hour, finally drop its increasingly incoherent and disingenuous excuses, and agree to shoot the balloon down as it reached the Atlantic shore—its mission completed.
Given the balloon may have more, not less, surveillance capability than satellites, may have itself been designed eventually to adopt offensive capability, and may have been intended to gauge the American reaction to incursions, the Biden hesitation and fear to defend U.S. airspace and confront China makes no sense.
Contrast Ukraine: Why discount the dangers of strategic escalation in a third-party proxy war, but exaggerate them to the point of stasis when a belligerent’s spy balloon crosses the U.S. heartland with impunity? Are the borders of Ukraine more sacrosanct and more worthy
(Excerpt) Read more at amgreatness.com ...
How did that 2004 Color Revolution (Orange Revolution) work out for Ukraine?
VDH ping
About as well as the Arab Spring.
How did the fall of communism in 1991 work out for Russia?
Are you like Putin and miss the glory days of the Workers Paradise?
VDH is one of the few in the media we have on our side. I hope the Ukies are paying you well.
The 2004 Orange movement helped move Ukraine away from Russia levels of corruption. It’s still corrupt, but increasingly less so.
Outright vote rigging diminished after the 2004 presidential election.
The 2014 movement pushed that further. And ukraine’s move to be an affiliate member of the EU also reduced corruption further. It still has a long way to go, but it’s on the road away from Russian-level corruption
Glad you asked.
Not well at first, but he recovered quite nicely to the point that he has now been able to defeat the whole of the west/NATO in Ukraine. By the way, that is while he has sent our economies into a tailspin as he thrives from increased prices of energy (which he has in abundance) and sanctions .
I can hear him now...."Thanks for the sanctions and energy bans, Brandon and Ursala. Please keep it up. I just love this losing!"
Recent reports, denied by the United States, allege that Putin is negotiating with the Taliban to buy some of the abandoned American arsenal to help replenish Russia’s enormous materiel losses in Ukraine. What helped the Soviets win World War II were the American gifts of 400,000 trucks and Jeeps. Over 60,000 American armored vehicles, Humvees, and trucks, now in the hands of the Taliban would be a valuable addition to Putin’s arsenal. The media assures us that poorly equipped Russian soldiers struggle with obsolete guns dating back to the early postwar period, while assuring us that either the Taliban would not sell, or Russians could not use, over a half-million late-model American automatic pistols, assault rifles, and machine guns.
Please set asiide some time to digest this article. Prof Hanson makes many, many great points worth pondering - and getting angry over!
FR Index of his articles: Victor Davis Hanson on FR
Town Hall: Victor Davis Hanson on Town Hall
American Greatness: Victor Davis Hanson on American Greatness
His website: Victor Davis Hanson
Please let me know if you want on or off this new VDH ping list.
As a reminder, Professor Hanson has asked that we do not post the full article of his writings. Thank you for following the link to finish his article.
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As always, 'spot on'...
;>)
They hypocrisy of the uke trolls is that they expect Putin’s replacement to be benevolent.
Idiots.
Biden only shot down the Chinese Spy Balloon because it was drifting towards Ukraine!
Bkmk
Hanson lost all credibility on this issue when he stupidly blamed Putin for gearing up Soviet type aggresion when this quagmire began. He totally discounted the massive change in the balance of power since 1990 and Russian legitimate concerns about NATO’s last thirty years of strident European hegemony. Nothing Hanson has to say on this issue is of any interest to me.
BFL
WoW!
You must be an Al Gore fanboy. Do you have a crush on Greta?
My point is that you seem to think the mainstream media and the DeepState, RINOs and Democrats are interested in the well-being of the USA and her citizens.
Please feel free to clarify how the USA has a legitimate interest in the ongoing hostilities on other side of the world.
Excellent observations.
I will (try to) factor those into my thinking.
Hillary was happy.
There are people with opinions on this subject who think Victor Davis Hansen is either “stupid” or a “Russian stooge”.
Both assertions are hilariously laughable. People may disagree with his take, but to label him “stupid” or a “Russian stooge” pretty much forces the person painting him with that brush into an intellectual corner with a lot of undesirable company.
They don’t see that, of course because their megaphone and keyboard are still there.
Hansen has an excellent grasp on what is going on, and is able to convey it effectively. We need that desperately.
Otherwise, the Internet is populated with people whose best intellectual contribution to understanding the issue is to pigeonhole those they disagree with as “stupid”, or worse.
Link please
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