Is it just me, or is the U.S. sliding toward a major war without really any kind of debate?
No declaration of war for sure, as such a thing as following the Constitution clearly cannot be considered by the leadership class of this nation. There has not been any kind of use-of-force resolution, either.
Instead, $40 billion has been appropriated for Ukraine, and most Republicans signed on without hesitation. Democrats, once an anti-war party, ignominiously pulled out of one war in Afghanistan and immediately got us involved in another.
The expansion of NATO continues, which by treaty could involve us in a war with Russia if it gets crossways with any number of new members. Have we thought this through?
President Vladimir Putin is a dangerous aggressor. On that, it is possible for all to agree. But have we been going out of our way to aggravate him? Is this the best way to deal with him?
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And if he is so evil, why are the Germans and Italians doing big business with him for energy? Why are they destroying their own energy capacity and making themselves more dependent on such a dastardly foe?
Moreover, what can be strategically accomplished with the current U.S. intervention?
It is to weaken Russia, we are told.
If that is true, why is the ruble rising against the dollar? As long as Russia dominates energy markets and is backed up by China, how weak is it? Russia will have all the food, fertilizer and energy it will need, while the rest of the world will not? Who is being weakened here?
Does Ukraine have a chance against Russia?
And why this silence among all the war hawks about the role of China? What do the NBA and Nike, the big banks and brokerage houses that lecture us constantly about our shortcomings, think of this nefarious alliance with China, Russia’s chief benefactor?
Moreover, the Russians seem to be slowly winning the war on the ground. That is the emerging reality.
Are we willing to spend our money to fight Russia right down to the last Ukrainian? If what we have done will not stop it, what will it require? Are we ready for what it will require, or are we just flushing $40 billion down the drain to look good?
Russia seems to be consolidating in the east. Ukraine is reportedly outnumbered 10 to 1 in artillery. Many other categories show a similar lopsided advantage for the Russians. And while the Ukrainians have fought bravely, they are facing a much larger country willing to take heavy casualties. In a dictatorship like Russia’s that controls the media and has no political opposition, casualties don’t create the normal negative feedback loop.
How can Ukraine win if it cannot gain air superiority and interdict its opponent’s supply lines? That would require a much greater effort on our part and risk invading Russian territory. With all of Russia’s resources, its larger population and its productive capacity for war kept intact, Ukraine simply can’t win this war of attrition if Russia can bomb Ukrainian infrastructure at will but Ukraine can’t touch the Russians.
How can Ukraine win a war of defense only, outnumbered and outgunned in every military category? It certainly can make the Russians pay dearly, but can it win? What is your answer? If we can’t win, what are we doing?
It could be argued we are fighting for “democracy.” How can that be seriously argued since President Volodymyr Zelenskyy just banned his political opposition?
As peripheral matters, the U.S. is doing some very strange things that could do significant long-term damage.
Seizing Russian foreign reserves with no judicial process at all, simply on the whim of the U.S., has demonstrated that the U.S. dollar is not a safe place to put your foreign reserves. China, India and Middle Eastern dictatorships all took note of this. This has the potential to upend the entire post-war monetary framework.
The U.S. has profited immensely by having the dollar the reserve currency of the world. Did we just blow that up for a war we can’t possibly win?
Over the weekend, newly minted NATO member Lithuania decided to block the transit of goods to Kaliningrad. Look it up on a map. It is part of Russia and the home of its Baltic fleet.
It is one thing to block the purchase of Russian goods through sanctions; it is quite another to block Russian goods from getting from one part of Russia to another. That is clearly a direct intervention in the internal affairs of another country.
It would appear it is an act of war.
OK, did Lithuania clear that with us? As a new member of NATO, does it not know that if Russia retaliates, all of NATO is treaty-bound to come to its aid? Is the decision to expand this war in the hands of a small foreign nation rather than our Congress? Yes, it appears that it is!
Did World War III just start while the world was chattering about Biden falling off his bike?
Are the American people fully aware of what we are getting ourselves into?
When are Republicans going to start asking some important questions about this war? What is the end game? Can it be won? What will be the cost?
In short, is it too much to ask that our representatives and senators do their damned jobs?
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