The Realities Of Ukraine

On Thursday, Victor Davis Hanson posted an article at The Daily Caller about the war in Ukraine. The article lists ‘ten realities’ about what is happening in Ukraine.

Here is the list:

One — Reassuring an enemy what one will not do ensures that the enemy will do just that and more.

Two — No-fly zones don’t work in a big-power, symmetrical standoff.

Three — Europe, NATO members and Germany in particular have de facto admitted that their past decades of shutting down nuclear plants, coal mines and oil and gas fields have left Europe at the mercy of Russia.

Four — China is now pro-Russian. Beijing wants Russian natural resources at a discount.

Five — Americans are finally digesting just how destructive the humiliating flight from Afghanistan was.

Six — The Ukraine war did not cause inflation and record gas prices.

Seven — Putin did not invade during the Trump tenure, although he had been more aggressive under previous American leadership with his prior attacks on Georgia, Ukraine and Crimea.

Eight — It is not “escalation” to send arms to Ukraine.

Nine — Putin may never fully absorb Ukraine as long as it can easily be supplied across its borders by four NATO countries.

Ten — It is not “un-American” to point out that prior American appeasement under the Obama and the Biden administrations explains not why Putin wished to go into Ukraine, but why he felt he could.

Please follow the link above to read the entire article for the details.

The article concludes:

We should not rehash the past but learn from it — and thereby ensure Putin is defeated now and deterred in the future.

A strong America with strong leadership makes the world a safer place.

How To Stop The Advance Of Vladimir Putin

Frank Gaffney, Jr. posted an article today at the Center For Security Policy website explaining how to stop Vladimir Putin’s plans to create the former Russian empire.

The article explains how Putin uses the price of natural gas to advance his program:

Russian president Vladimir Putin has just increased by over forty percent the price of natural gas Russia supplies to Ukraine.

This isn’t the first time Putin has used energy as a weapon against Ukraine and others. We should be doing everything possible to make it the last time, though.

Russia’s role as a major exporter of oil and natural gas is a two-edged sword. Yes, the Kremlin can squeeze those dependent on its exports for political or strategic purposes. But the Russian economy is also critically dependent upon such energy sales.

America has the answer to both stopping the Russian blackmail of Ukraine and to collapsing the Russian economy. It’s actually very simple. Begin to develop and export our own natural gas resources. It would probably take less than a year and Russia would lose its leverage over Ukraine and much of Europe. It’s simple and would also help the American economy.

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The Next Step After Ukraine?

Yesterday NBC News posted a story about Russian military drills near Finland.

The article reports:

Troops and jet fighters from all four military regions of Russia were deployed Sunday about 150 miles east of the Finnish border, according to the English-language newspaper Finnbay. The Russian defense ministry said in a statement that the exercises were pre-planned and that more than 50 fighter pilots took part.

Vladimir Putin has stated that he wants to restore Russia to its former glory. The article reminds us that Finland was part of the Russian empire for 108 years, from 1809 until Russia’s withdrawal from World War I in 1917.

The article explains Vladimire Putin’s goal:

This anxiety was heightened Sunday after one of Putin’s closest former advisers told the Swedish newspaper Svenska Dagbladet that the Kremlin would seek “historical justice” by reclaiming Finland and ex-Soviet countries as part of an enlarged Russian Federation.

 “Putin’s view is that he protects what belongs to him and his predecessors,” wrote Andrei Illarionov, according to a translation by the Moscow Times.

“Parts of Georgia, Ukraine, Belarus, the Baltic states and Finland are states where Putin claims to have ownership,” said Illarionov, who is now a senior fellow at the Washington, D.C.,-based Cato Institute.

Finland is a member of the European Union. Theoretically, Europe would come to its defense if it were attacked. Finland was also the only European nation involved in World War II to avert a foreign occupation. Obviously we would all be better off if Russia were not flexing its muscles at Ukraine and Finland, but until America has a strong leader in the White House we can expect to see more of this.

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