Liberty vs. tyranny, Ukraine version
It says "In the time since Russia invaded Ukraine, a round of self-congratulation has erupted in the West. Moscow is threatening the liberal order, but in the eyes of leaders in Washington, Berlin, London, or Paris, the West has shown the world just how strong and unified it is. The scale of the sanctions package is unprecedented, they say; the idea of freedom has shown itself to be stronger than Vladimir Putin ever could have imagined; the collective spirit of the liberal order has been restored."
It continued, saying "It is easy to get carried away in a wave of awe at what is happening in Ukraine, faced with the patriotic bravery of Ukrainians fighting for the right to be free, the Russian military’s apparent early struggles, and the West’s stronger-than-expected response. Germany has finally awakened; the European Union has risen to the occasion; the United States has rediscovered its moral and political leadership. This is a crisis that has reminded Europe how important America remains and how important Europe might yet become."
The biggest lessons that the West hasn't learned are the most frightening and the biggest existential threats. First, though not necessarily in this order, it's essential that an all-of-the-above energy policy is essential to national security. That includes oil, natural gas, nuclear and hydro. All-of-the-above means exactly that -- all-of-the-above.
Next, diplomacy without the legitimate threat of force is just a gabfest for the West and easy pickings for tyrants like Putin. Putin is a serious man who isn't worried about unity of allies; he's worried about winning by any means necessary. If that means committing war crimes, that's fine with Putin. Putin thinks that he's immune as long as he keeps winning.
The Western conceits that history is linear and that problems always have solutions make it hard to process evidence that challenges these assumptions. Even if Putin is unable to "win" his war in Ukraine, what if, for example, he is prepared to go further than anyone imagines in suppressing the population in whatever territory he does control? Or what if he is able to take Ukraine by force, declares it part of a Greater Russia, and threatens the nuclear annihilation of Warsaw, or Budapest, or Berlin, if the West intervenes in any way in his new territory? We might have on our hands a Eurasian North Korea, but thousands of times more powerful.Leadership matters. Thus far, it's impossible to say that Joe Biden is a leader. He isn't even leading from behind. Yesterday, a Pentagon reporter said that the Pentagon was split on supplying MiG-29s to Ukraine. Joe Biden was nowhere to be found. That isn't leadership. Eventually, that fighting got settled but not until hours of pondering and bickering. Biden offering President Zelenskiy safe passage out of Ukraine for himself and his family was taken as an insult by Zelenskiy. Zelenskiy replied "I need ammunition. I don't need a ride." That's leadership with a heaping helping of patriotism at no extra charge.
For all of the establishment's back-slapping, there really aren't substantive accomplishments to list. Has all of this NATO unity stopped Putin's march? While the EU has gotten its eyes opened, has it pledged to chart a new pro-growth path that includes fossil fuels and nuclear energy to protect itself from Russia? Until those things happen, much still needs to be accomplished. All this talk of unity is meaningless if individual nations don't do what's in their individual self interest. Collectivism sounds nice until it's put into practice.
All this talk is happening because a brave leader in Ukraine showed courage and patriotism. The other stuff is window dressing. This is what awaits Europe:
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