I don’t know that I’ve ever cited The American Conservative before. Consider this snippet from Doug Bandow’s criticism of the phlegmatic stance of our European allies:
The visiting Europeans also claimed to fear a change in the global balance of power. To not “defeat†Putin, whatever that means—the debate is largely between reclaiming just the territory lost since last February and recovering everything seized before as well—would “show weakness,†I was told, and would encourage aggression by China as well as Russia.
In fact, even a ceasefire along current lines would be a defeat for Moscow. Rather than cow Ukrainian nationalism, Putin’s war intensified it. Rather than keep NATO away from Russia’s borders, his “Special Military Operation†brought Finland (and also will presumably bring, at some point, Sweden) into the transatlantic alliance. Moreover, European governments now talk about spending more on the military, a dramatic turnaround for many—though whether they carry through on their promises remains to be seen.
More important, while the conflict is a terrible humanitarian tragedy, it involves no substantial U.S. security interests. Ukraine has never mattered militarily to America. It was part of the Soviet Union for the entire Cold War, and part of the Russian Empire before that. Ukraine’s status is no more important for America today. While it matters more for the Europeans, that should be their responsibility, not Washington’s.
I would certainly be interested in hearing a counter-argument. An argument that we should support Ukraine’s creation of an ethnic state with its pre-2014 borders would be interesting, too.
I do think Rossi ahas a problem the longer the war goes on, much as we did in Viet Nam, Iraq and Afghanistan. Americans were broadly very supportive of those wars in the early stages. Once they persisted people had to question not only the conduct of the war but also why we were actually fighting in those countries. There wasn’t much of a justifiable reason. The Russians will face the same problem. Ukraine was never going to invade them. Ukraine is not full of Nazis. Putin has popular support now but will likely get harder to sustain since there is no real reason to invade Ukraine other than expanding the empire.
Steve