I would like to take issue with parts of Patricia Greene’s My Turn article regarding Ukraine, Russia, NATO, and us. The argument that we should mind our own business reminds one of the German American Bund making similar arguments in the late 1930’s and pre-Pearl Harbor in favor of not getting involved in European disputes.
Sudetenland which was part of Czechoslovakia was given to Nazi Germany, against Czechoslovakia’s wishes to try to avoid war. We allowed Ukraine to be invaded and the Crimea taken over Russia. Do we know if Russia tried to lease ports from Ukraine Crimea?
In 2014 Russia invaded Ukraine, disguised as “separatists,” and ended up according to the internet owning 7.2% of Ukraine. Hmmm. Obama must have been going for the Neville Chamberlain award. By the way why does Putin have Russian troops, over 100,000, surrounding Ukraine? Does Russia do this ever year? Maybe he just gets a kick out of scaring NATO nations. Quite a sense of humor and a waste of Russian resources.
Noting NATO’s and our disingenuous dealings is quite beside the point, as all powerful entities are basically dishonest thugs, including dear ole Russia. The most humorous line in Greene’s piece was “Russia has stated clearly that it has no intentions of invading Ukraine or other nearby countries unless there is some unreasonable situation which threatens their own safety.” Reminds me of Trump saying how he respects elections as long as they go his way.
If we wish to be cynical about this, one could note that a limited war between us and Russia would most likely help both Putin and Biden in the eyes of their citizens. I understand that neither are all that popular.
Tom Tolg
Greenfield