Op-ed views and opinions expressed are solely those of the author.
Huffington Post and The Washington Post, among others, even some conservatives, have blasted Tucker Carlson for questioning the approved narrative on the Russo-Ukrainian War. Even when admitting he was wrong about Russian intentions, (a few months ago it was rational to assume that Putin would only secure the Donbas region, declare a fait accompli, and request an armistice). Carlson is pilloried for “lying” or being “pro-Putin,” which itself is a lie.
Indeed, anyone who questions the approved line is attacked as a Putin stooge. There is some irony in this as this is the same press corps that attacked Reagan for not talking to the Ruskies and Trump for talking to them.
For years, the left had raised the issue of the Soviet Union feeling threatened based on Russia’s history of being invaded. Therefore, to the left, the Soviet Union wanting buffer states was legitimate. Now that the Soviet Union is no more, they’ve changed their tune and demanded intervention erasing their pro-Soviet past.
As I wrote in “BizPac Review” on February 9,
Do the more bellicose of Carlson’s critics have any understanding of what war with the Russians could involve? We are not dealing with third rate Arab armies, 12th Century Bedouin with a Rolex and an AK-47. Russia’s modernized troops are equipped, trained, and determined. War is hard, dirty, and dangerous, it is not a video game. The American campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan violated every Clausewitzian principle of war. How has that turned out?
Did not Vladimir Putin say what he was going to do relative to Ukraine? Yes. When the Soviet Union collapsed the Warsaw Pact dissolved and Soviet troops withdrew from the USSR’s European satellites. As peace broke out, NATO promised it would not expand to the Russian border, then broke that promise creating a problem that need not have existed.
As more nations were admitted to NATO, Moscow felt Russia was being encircled, as the left had once cautioned. What had been Eastern European buffer states were brought into NATO, states which could have been offered protection without NATO. There is some irony in this as well. Buffer states offer protection in a conventional war, but nuclear missiles can reach their targets in minutes, obviating the buffer argument. Putin, however, doesn’t see it that way.
Although she didn’t like it, Russia acquiesced to Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, and others entering NATO. Ukraine was different. Unlike these old “captive nations,” Ukraine had been as much an integral part of the Soviet Union as it had been of Czarist Russia. To Putin, a NATO Ukraine was a dagger pointed at the heart of Russia that could not be tolerated any more than missiles in Mexico or Canada could be tolerated by the U.S. Remember the Cuban missile crisis?
The Russians are supposedly willing to negotiate an end to the war so long as the Crimea and Donbas are recognized as Russian, that Ukraine be neutral and not join NATO, the latter already agreed upon by Ukrainian President Zelenskyy. The West can live with that. But is Putin sincere, or just stalling for time to reinforce his army? Unknown. Or is there another evil force at work, something more sinister? Is NATO-Ukraine a cover for Putin’s delusional desire to resurrect the Czarist Russian Empire, as ridiculous as that sounds? We shall soon know if negotiations fail and the war continues.
If the Russian Bear swallows Ukraine, will Sweden and Finland be next if they are not taken into NATO?. If they fall, the pressure will be on the Baltic States to capitulate or declare their “neutrality” under the Bear’s protection. Poland will be threatened on three fronts and the Baltic Sea will become a Russian lake posing a danger to Germany as well. Europe will face a Russian pincer. Will Europe be enough though? The Putin circle is already demonstrating that selling Alaska to the U.S. was illegitimate and must be revoked. Yes, some in Putin World are that insane. What then?
Ukraine is not democratic Czechoslovakia 1938. Corruption is endemic, Zelenskyy has shut down opposition voices, admires Trudeau, and the “New World Order,” all of which leave a bad taste in conservative mouths. War, however, changes everything. Zelenskyy is standing for his country and Ukrainians are not fighting for globalism, but Ukraine. They are the true heroes of this battle, troublesome reminders that people fight for their land, their traditions, their family, not some rancid “progressive” one-world fantasy.
The Chinese say: “May you live in interesting times.” It’s not benevolent; it’s a curse.
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In his civilian career he worked primarily in Army Public Affairs and for the Air Force as historian to the presidential wing in the early Reagan administration and later for Air Force Legislative Liaison covering congressional hearings and assisting in preparing testimony for senior leaders.
His essays and reviews have appeared in the scholarly and popular press including Asian Affairs and the Washington Times. He is co-author, with Ali Wahab, of The Iraqi Royal Family, a Collection of Photographs Recovered from The Ruins of the Zuhur Palace, 2004.
A native New Yorker, he holds a BA with honors in history from Findlay College (Ohio) and an MA in history from The Ohio State University. He is a graduate of the US Army Command & General Staff College and was graduated with distinction US Naval War College with a MA in National Security and Strategic Studies.
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