re: “Naturally, I love Cruz, but I disagree with him strongly here. What exactly is America’s strategic interest in Ukraine? Are we willing to risk war with the Rooskis, especially with our severely weakened military and woefully inept political leadership?”
I totally agree with you that our military is weakened and looks to be weakened even further by this administration.
However, this is not just about Ukraine. The strategic importance is - what happens if Putin decides to go beyond Ukraine? Is our security affected by this one solitary act? Maybe not, but we have to view this from Putin’s point of view. If he gets away with taking Ukraine with only “sanctions” and “letters of protest” - what possible lesson would Putin take from the West’s response to his actions in Ukraine?
And, what tyrant has ever been dissuaded from their ambitions by sanctions and official protests?
The enemy sets the rules of engagement. If the West does not respond with real military measures to increase it’s security, all the sanctions in the world will not protect them. Not open war, but preparedness - which the West and the U.S. has allowed to decay thinking that conventional warfare is obsolete.
I think Cruz is absolutely correct in putting the missile shield up NOW - as it should have been six years ago.
However, he is looking out for Russia' hegemonic interests by trying to rebuild the old Russian Empire. Whereas the Soviets were bent on world conquest and subjugation, Putin I believe just wants to dominate Europe and Russia's part of Asia. Unless he sets his sites on Alaska, I still fail to see how it is in our interest to confront him in his own back yard, when we're pretty much out of Europe now.