You can cheer on Ukraine and greatly admire Volodymyr Zelensky and still marvel at the rhetorical whiplash he has put the world through.
In January Zelensky was telling Ukrainians "don't worry, be happy".
"We will celebrate Easter in April. And then in May, as usual - the sun, the holidays, the barbecues."
When the U.S. Government warned Zelensky that Russia was about to invade Ukraine, he tut-tutted our warnings as panic-inducing hysteria.
In fact, on February 13, Zelenzky was publicly accusing the United States of ginning up hysteria over a fabricated Russian invasion.
Just 15 days later -- February 28 -- he was demanding we impose a "no fly zone," which would require missile strikes on Russia.
Crazy?
Sure.
A little bit.
Which is not to say that Volodymyr Zelensky does not have brains and balls -- he does. In spades.
But what he lacks is any military experience at all.
The only bombing Volodymyr Zelensky has ever done is before a nightclub audience.
The man is a comedian and comic actor. He can dance.
But does he understand what a "no fly" zone really is, or what imposing such a thing would do to the NATO coalition?
No and nope.
You think Zelensky understands what it takes to keep a fighter airplane working -- intact runways, specialized fuel, trained pilots, adequate spare parts, specialized mechanics, and airplane hangers?
No and nope. At least not when he first asked for it.
You think US and NATO fighter jets flying into Russia to bomb radar installations, anti-aircraft installations, fuel depots, and runways inside Russia would not be the start of World War III with nukes?
You want to bet the future of the world on that?
Which is not to say the world may not impose a no fly zone at some point.
It may.
It is to say that that decision should not be made by a comedian-turned-politician who, just 15 days earlier, was telling us Ukraine was not going to get invaded by Russia.
At the moment, 10 million Ukrainians are armed and fighting with many thousands of Javelin missiles, NLAW missiles, Stinger Missiles, anti-tank mines, grenade launchers, and AT4 anti-tank missiles.
The Ukrainians are fighting with Panzerfaust 3 anti-tank missiles, Stugna-P anti-tank missiles, RPG-7s, and missile-carrying Bayraktar and Punisher drones.
Britain is about to give the Ukrainians the STARStreak missile system -- the fastest short-range surface-to-air missile in the world, which travels at Mach 4 and launches three laser beam-riding submunitions to increase the likelihood of hitting the target.
All of this heavy weaponry is force-multiplied by NATO intercepts of Russian communications and detailed satellite and targeting information, to say nothing of scores of thousands of machine guns and rifles and millions of rounds of ammunition.
It's also worth remembering that Ukraine entered this war with aircraft and tanks of its own, as well as infantry-fighting vehicles, armored personnel carriers, artillery, and anti-aircraft guns.
Ukraine has also captured a fair amount of heavy weapons from Russian troops who have abandoned many billions of dollars worth of fighting equipment made temporarily inoperable due to rotten tires, crippling mud, and a shortage of fuel.
Instead of angrily demanding what we cannot give, might I suggest Ukraine use what we have given them, ask for more of the same, and THANK the American, German, Swedish, Polish, British, Spanish, Canadian, Finnish, Hungarian, and Australian taxpayers for paying for all of it?
And we are not just paying for weapons and transportation of the same.
We are also shelling out billions and billions of dollars to help refugees.
We are also going to be paying scores of billions -- perhaps trillions -- of dollars more in fuel and food costs thanks to the massive, deep, and broad economic sanctions imposed on Russia to benefit Ukraine.
If Ukraine wins -- and I think they will -- let us salute their fighting spirit, but let them acknowledge that they would have not been able to do any of it without massive help from the United States, Britain, and NATO allies. We will never ask to be paid back, but it would be nice if we were thanked.
2 comments:
According to the interviews conducted with the military officials of Ukraine - the secret service knew about a possibility of war happening on 24th and the military, police and border-guard forces did prepare for that. The only thing they did not anticipate was that Belarus would take part in it, the massive airstrikes and indiscriminate bombing of civilian settlements. On the other hand - no one, not even the world believed that Putin would actually go through with the military intervention.
So, it is arguable, what could have been the right course of action beforehand. Would we believe our government telling us that - maybe tomorrow we are going to be bombed? But maybe not. We would probably write it off as complete nonesenses. Panic freezes the course of rational thinking and it eats away the energy. No one needs that in advance.
I think we can also ask - has there been any war in the history, where civilians were evacuated en masse way before the actual fighting began? Probably not. Only the wars that were avoided through diplomacy.
As for the "no-fly" zone rhetoric - I agree with you, but - on the other hand - I think that allies understand, where does this come from and don't blame him for it. Unfortunately arms shipments and economic sanctions work slower than the tanks move and missiles fly. It is very hard for us to imagine, what it is like to be in the middle of a sieged city, being bombed every half an hour and not being able to do anything about it. What it means to see a once beautiful, prosperous city levelled to the ground. What it means to live every day and see innocent civilians die, even if you do everything possible in multiple fronts to stop it. Ukrainian government is under huge pressure and each official has a role to play. Zelenskyy Also Zelenskyy is not making any military decisions - he has appointed a general to do it.
I am very happy that all military specialists around the world take time to explain to people, why a "no fly zone" is not tenable. Why it would give Russia just the right reason to tell their citizens that they have been right all along. That Russian aircraft causes less problems than the missiles. And no country in the world - even USA - has effective means to protect themselves from the missile attacks.
Maybe this "downplaying of NATO's involvement" is a cover for other effective things done in secret. Such as NATO cyber-forces in action, Intelligence services providing information, arms received and distributed quietly throughout Ukraine. Hardly any Western media have access to Ukrainian/Russian specialists and analysts that know the inside kitchen very well. They are not ungrateful at all for all the help that they have received this far.
I also think that besides the aid received, the Ukrainian government is offering something in return too. Despite being one of the poorest countries in Europe, Ukraine is a resource rich country - it even has massive gas and oil reserves, that have not been developed. So, the West might be burning money on the war-field now, but in the case of this war ending favourably for Ukraine, there will be a huge opportunity for investments in this country too.
In a nutshell - war is war and you never know, what has been the right course of action or has been not, until it has ended. After all it has been almost 80 years since WWII ended and still people analyze it in depth and wonder - what if.
Putin won't be appeased. They're shelling just 8 miles off the border of Poland. Which I'd argue is forcing the US to behave as if there's a no fly zone in place anyway. Might as well call it and toe up to this totalitarian dictator. I'm unclear as to why he should call all the shots leaving the world to wonder 'what is Putin going to do next?' maybe he should be wondering what NATO and the US will do next.? Soon our choice will be made for us. Anybody who thinks we're not already in a world war are deluding themselves. The whole world is already involved, albeit economically right now, but that's only for the short term.
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