Posted on 03/04/2022 7:07:13 AM PST by Kaslin
When Hungarian rebels arose in 1956 to overthrow the Communist regime imposed by Joseph Stalin, President Dwight Eisenhower refused to send U.S. forces to aid the Hungarians.
Ike would not take America to war with Russia over a small country in Central Europe.
While the Hungarians were heroic and inspirational, Hungary was neither a member of NATO nor a vital U.S. interest. Moreover, it was on the Soviet side of the Yalta line dividing Europe, and agreed to by Franklin D. Roosevelt, Joseph Stalin and Winston Churchill at Yalta in 1945.
For similar reasons today, President Joe Biden has refused to send U.S. troops, ships or planes to attack Russian forces invading Ukraine.
Though a nation of 44 million and almost as large as Texas, Ukraine is neither a vital U.S. interest nor a member of NATO.
However, were Russian President Vladimir Putin to invade Estonia, whose population is 3% of Ukraine's, America would be obligated to go to war with Russia.
Does this disparity make strategic sense?
Should not America have the same freedom of action to decide whether to fight for Estonia as we do to decide whether to fight for Ukraine? After all, Ukraine is far larger and more populous and strategic.
In 1948, President Harry Truman refused to use force to break Stalin's Berlin Blockade. In 1956, Eisenhower refused to intervene to save Hungary. In 1961, President John F. Kennedy refused to use force to stop the building of the Berlin Wall
In 1968, President Lyndon Johnson refused to intervene when the USSR invaded Czechoslovakia to crush the pro-democracy "Prague Spring."
Yet, today, America's leaders do not have the same freedom not to act as did Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy and Johnson. We are obligated to act. Why?
Because, since the end of the Cold War, we have expanded the membership of NATO, and there are now 28 nations of Europe we are obligated to defend if they are attacked.
Ukraine is not one of them, but five of them that border Russia or Ukraine -- Romania, Slovakia, Poland, Latvia and Estonia -- are currently providing Stinger or Javelin missiles to Ukraine to destroy Russian tanks, down Russian aircraft, and kill Russian soldiers in Ukraine.
If Putin retaliated against any of these countries for these arms transfers that are killing Russian soldiers, the U.S. would be obligated, under Article 5 of NATO, to fight Russia on behalf of these NATO nations.
Article 5 automatically conscripts the United States into a war with Russia, if Moscow retaliates against a NATO nation providing weapons to kill Russian soldiers.
Why have we willingly tied our own hands in this manner?
During 40 years of Cold War, America remained secure while East Germany, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia were all under Moscow's control.
These nations are all free today as a result of the West's victory in the Cold War. But why do all these nations have war guarantees from the United States when none of them, as the Cold War demonstrated, is a vital interest of the USA?
Why, after the Cold War ended in 1991, did we agree to fight a war with Russia, including a nuclear war, on their behalf when 40 years of Cold War demonstrated they were not essential to our security?
Today, by our refusal to intervene militarily in Ukraine, to slow or halt this Russian invasion, we are sending a message to the world.
That message?
Ukraine's independence is not vital to the United States. While a desirable goal, it is not worth our fighting a war with Russia to preserve.
Moreover, the independence of Ukraine is not worth the risk of using U.S. planes to establish a no-fly zone for Russian planes in the skies over Ukraine.
Indeed, had we given Putin assurances that NATO was closed to Kyiv, we might have prevented what has happened, because that was the first and most insistent of Putin's demands.
The heroic rhetoric we are hearing from our political and media leaders aside, the real message sent to Ukraine by our own and NATO's actions and inaction is this:
We will send you weapons, but we are not sending our troops, and we are not going to fight your war for you, or beside you, unless and until we decide that it is in our vital interest to do so.
Fortunately, we had not brought Ukraine into NATO, nor given Kyiv a war guarantee that obligated us to risk everything for a nation deemed not vital to us.
Those who prevented the U.S. from realizing former President George W. Bush's ambition to bring Ukraine and Georgia into NATO may have saved us from a war with Russia in which both of us could have suffered horribly.
Whether we go to war for a nation that was formerly part of the Soviet bloc should be a matter for decision by the Americans of that day and time -- not mandated, not dictated by our signature on a 73-year-old treaty, devised for another era and another world.
Letting 44 million people fall under the domain of Russia is a strategic mistake.
You can say that again.
Letting 330 million people in America fall under the domain of neocons, socialists, woke ideologues and corrupt oligarchs in DC was a mistake.
Amen
If you think so, then grab a rifle and go stand in the breach.
What caused all of this?
Who caused it?
Why did he do the things that caused this?
I suggest all warhawks and neocons get themselves to the Ukraine and take up arms. But they won’t.
No, because Ukraine isn't a part of NATO.
But a Russia-Nato clash over the Baltics may well be in the cards, since Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia are all NATO countries and an attack on any one is an attack on all NATO countries per Article 5 of the NATO charter.
Letting 44 million people fall under the domain of Russia is a strategic mistake.
If Putin attacks a Nato country, we will have no choice but to take off the gloves. Kinda like when we drew the line in the sand with Hitler on Poland. Let’s hope Putin doesn’t make the same mistake Hitler did.
Not yet!
Let’s face facts: Ukraine is as or more corrupt than Russia or many African, Middle Eastern or Latin American countries. It’s government oversaw and approved of funneling of millions of $ to then-VP (and always pedophile) joe biden and his son in exchange for access and good treatment by the USA.
I do not approve of this invasion but I understand it.
Ukraine has Crimea which Russia needs as buffer against the West and Ukraine has all the Russia to Europe pipelines and has been charging Russia up the gazoo to use.
Once Ukraine signaled it was going to join NATO, which Russia views as actively hostile to it, this was INEVITABLE. Also, the Russian psyche of “suffering is good,” Putin’s stubbornness and willingness to put his people through any pain, and pedo joe’s weakness means that Putin will succeed. It is just a question of time.
This is not a desired outcome on my part - just a prediction.
You may get the chance to intervene.
Those Americans, as well as other countries citizens going over to the Ukraine to fight will cause an escalation.
The Russians will consider these people as undercover military for NATO and take action accordingly.
Aside from all that. These people will most likely find out their governments will not attempt to free them if they are caught by Russian forces. They may well be taken out and shot.
Beautiful country. Add to that:
Beautiful women=damsel in distress.
We are very tempted.
It reminds me of the time I was driving on a country road. 2 horseflies were engaged in the act when they both hit my windshield at 40+ mph. Way to go.
Question, many people say that Russia needs a buffer state between it and NATO countries. Do any NATO countries need a buffer state between them and Russia?
It’s all about The Bomb. The calculation; is Putin deranged enough to use it, what type would he use, who would he use it on?
Unfortunately, we did not bring Ukraine into NATO - which would have prevented the Russians from even contemplating such an invasion.
I re-iterate: If we had only hurried up and admitted the Ukraine to NATO before the Russian invasion, there would never have been a Russian invasion.
Regards,
We sent Stinger missiles and antitank guns to Afghanistan when Russia tried to annex that neighbor. What was our strategic interest then?
Letting 44 million people fall under the domain of Russia is a strategic mistake.
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