A tale of two Presidents
This Friday marks the anniversary of Russia's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine; for my faithful readers, you may recall that around this time last year, I predicted in this blog that Russia's President Vladimir Putin was merely "saber rattling" and harbored no real intention to invade—I was wrong and admitted as much not long after Europe's first major land war in decades commenced.
In the months since, a much larger and better equipped Russian Army found that a quick campaign to recapture its former satellite state was not in the offing as Ukraine, led by President Volodomyr Zelensky, fought back with an aggression that's historically typical when people prefer death over tyranny.
U.S. President Joe Biden is greeted by Ukraine's President Volodomyr Zelensky prior to their joint press conference in Kyiv…
Surely, the world has seen this narrative time and again over the past 75 years, whether it was French Armed forces being soundly defeated in Indochina (Vietnam) in the 1950's, American armed forces being soundly defeated by North Vietnamese and Viet Cong forces in the 1960's-70's, or, the Soviet Union's (Russia) armed forces being routed by the Mujaheddin in Afghanistan in the 1980's, the message that's been crystal clear is that invaders/colonizers are NOT welcome in the modern era.
A Mujaheddin warrior aims a U.S. made Stinger rocket at a Soviet aircraft in Afghanistan circa 1989…
What's made the Russia-Ukraine War fascinating, however, is that each of the above-mentioned conflicts were proxy fights that pitted the Democratic West against the Communist East during the Cold War—with local guerillas fighting off the invading major power with arms assistance freely and gleefully given by the opposing ideological side. Make no mistake, Ukraine has received funding and arms from the U.S. and her NATO allies over the past year, but not hardly to the level that Ukraine's Zelensky has repeatedly requested, particularly with regards to air support.
The West's reticence to get too deep into direct action in Ukraine makes sense when realizing that Russia's Putin has repeatedly hinted that nuclear weapons are within his realm of possibilities should NATO cross whatever imaginary line exists in his head. Thus, the prospect of global nuclear war—and the end of life as we know it—is the primary reason that this wholly unnecessary war, one that has left over 200,000 Russians dead or wounded to date, will likely continue in this stagnant form for the foreseeable future.
Yesterday, President Biden, fresh off of his surprise visit to Ukraine earlier this week, blasted his Russian counterpart Putin for igniting a war that has gone so badly that he has been forced to draft conscripts and mobilize convicts to replace the Russian troops that have perished over the past year. Biden, in his strongest rebuke in months, called Putin a "tyrant," adding, “Autocrats only understand one word: No, no, no...Every day the war continues is his choice. He could end the war with a word.”
Indeed...
Undaunted, if not defiant, President Putin strode to the lectern in Moscow to give his State of the Nation address and blasted the West, in general, and the U.S., specifically, by stating that both are attempting to “shift a local conflict into a phase of global confrontation...The more long-range weapons the West delivers to Ukraine, the farther we will be forced to move the threat from our borders.”
Putin's words may have seemed confident to the various Russian oligarchs and political cronies that are funding his war while staying out of the front-lines of the fight, but students of history will recognize that this is the age-old rhetoric that dictators have always used to justify the unjustifiable; whether it was Benito Mussolini claiming that he needed to invade Ethiopia to protect Italy's interests on Africa's east coast in the 1930's, or, Adolf Hitler's annexation of Austria, the Sudentenland, and Czechoslovakia in the run up to a full-scale invasion of Poland in 1939, or, Saddam Hussein's 1990 invasion of Kuwait—which he called an Iraqi state—the record reflects that autocratic bullies are only defeated when their targets fight back!
To that end, as year one of the Ukraine War comes to a close, the Ukrainian people have shown that they have the resolve to fight back against superior forces—here's hoping that the Biden administration and NATO will continue to do their parts to equip them in their titanic struggle for self-determination—and survival!