I Didn’t Vote for This War
Oops, I guess I wasn’t asked.
This is not a frivolous situation.
The Russia/Ukraine war is proof the military industrial complex has had a majority of both legislative chambers and the WH in their pocket.
That has to change – a 180-degree change.
I know, I know all the reasons for supporting Ukraine. They are summarized as:
- Ukraine keeps the war from spreading.
- Ukraine is degrading a hostile Russia.
- Ukrainian success helps restore economic vitality.
- A victorious Ukraine helps the U.S. competition with China.
- A Ukrainian victory promotes American values.
I won’t expand on those reasons.
My problem is we’re supposed to be supporting the American value of ‘democracy’ but there’s little if any debate by our leaders on the war.
My solution is simple and in line with the American ‘value’ for peace.
I’m not suggesting Russia or Putin be left alone to do as it/he will with neighboring countries. But the way, we and the EU handling of the situation is at best, described as borderline.
As William Tecumseh Sherman said, “War is hell.” The suffering by the civilian population is incalculable.
What’s really sad is that this war could have easily been avoided. The former Soviet state of Ukraine was making ‘noise’ about applying to become a member of NATO. Vladimir Putin made it clear from the outset that Ukraine becoming part of NATO was unacceptable.
NATO was formed in the late ’40’s by 12 countries. The US and the other current 29 members had little interest in accepting Ukraine into the alliance primarily because it did not fit the mission of NATO – which is “to secure a lasting peace in Europe, based on common values of individual liberty, democracy, human rights and the rule of law.”
The corruption in Ukraine was/is evident. President Zelensky has outlawed all opposition political parties including Opposition Platform for Life, Left Opposition and the Party of Shariy, and their leaders have been jailed. Those three were preceded in being banned for 8 other parties. In addition, Zelensky has banned a Christian religion and all privately held media outlets. He also combined all state media into one of the state called ‘United News.’
The actions of Zelensky did and do not fit the mission of NATO and certainly were not those of a ‘democratic’ country.
So, Putin’s opposition to NATO membership for Ukraine was not an issue with us or the other NATO nations.
But that’s not the vibes Putin was being sent by NATO. From his perspective Ukraine had the potential of being approved for membership. And since we didn’t communicate our stance on Ukraine he pulled the trigger on February 24, 2022 and invaded Ukraine.
Almost immediately following the breach of Ukraine’s border by Russia, Turkey – a NATO member – got the two countries to the negotiation table. By mid-March Russia and Ukraine announced a tentative settlement. The gist of that agreement was Ukraine would not apply for NATO membership and Russia would withdraw its troops.
Immediately following that announcement, British Prime Minister Yeltsin was sent to Kiev and told Zelensky to nix it – not accept the deal.
The people of the United States and Europe were told that Zelensky’s ‘democratic’ government was under attack by an out of control, even mentally ill Putin and that Russia must be stopped and be expelled from Ukraine.
That was followed by sanctions against Russia and hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of arms and money being provided to Ukraine by the US and the EU – which continues today.
When looking at the situation now we see nothing but escalation on our and NATO’s part to fight a proxy war against Russia. In doing so we’re inviting the threat of this becoming the inconceivable nuclear war – which was the purpose of the scary Cold War we waged with the Soviet Union until it dissolved at the end of 1991.
It’s obvious few western leaders anticipated the economic consequences of the war and the commensurate sanctions would have on disrupting the major fossil fuels resources provided by the oil and gas rich Russia.
While Europe struggles with keeping the heat on this winter in people’s homes and adding to the cost-of-living increases for US citizens, we see leaders of both our major political parties acting like war hawks.
They are not only ignoring what’s best for US citizens, but they have also extended the “hell” for citizens of the Ukraine. President Zelensky spoke to a cheering Congress last December.
There’s nothing in this Russia/Ukraine war for the United States. We are not defending our values or a democratic country or deserved leadership in Ukraine.
I believe both Presidents Obama and Trump would have negotiated an end to this war long ago. Further, I think either of them would have nipped this thing in the bud and prevented it from starting in the first place.
We are where we are. That doesn’t mean we have to stay that way.
Stop the war!
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Have a great and prosperous week.
Hug somebody.
References:
https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/top-5-reasons-america-must-support-ukraine-help-defeat-russia
SPIDER Bites
Here’s this week’s trivia question: What was America’s first national park? (Answer to last week: the 4 presidents depicted on Mt. Rushmore?: Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, Roosevelt.)
The anniversary of the Beatles arriving in the US was this week in 1964. I remember their first gig on the Ed Sullivan show. Spouse Kathleen and sister Karen became Beatle maniacs.
Some are calling it regulations on steroids. The Dept. of Energy is adding 2 additional ‘standards’ to potentially banning gas stoves. This time it’s the operation of refrigerators and clothes dryers – in the interest of climate change, of course. The price of those appliances is going up, up, like everything else these days.
As Tesla’s small SUV qualified for more tax credits last week, the company raised the price of its Model Y. Why wouldn’t they? The model was selling before it qualified for tax credits. Politicians and bureaucrats are so ‘smart’ they are taken advantage of by savvy businesspeople. Like many others, during my business career I didn’t much care about what the government was trying to do, I just wanted to understand it and find ways to work around it.
Welcome to the rest of the world! NYC is ending its workplace mandate that all municipal employees be vaccinated or lose their job. The ones who lost their jobs because of the mandate apparently moved to Florida – where their kids could go to school.
President Biden’s SOTU on Tuesday was seen by roughly 23 million viewers across the seven major TV networks, which is down from the nearly 34 million that tuned into his first State of the Union address last year. BTW, there’s over 168M eligible voters. During his address, the president said that his administration had generated 12 million new jobs since he took office. But Bureau of Labor Statistics data show that during his administration 2.7 million jobs have been created since January 2021 – when accounting for jobs that had been lost when the COVID-19 pandemic triggered the government’s mandate to close the economy.
The President called for unity again in his SOTU address. In his mind unity apparently is a synonym for ‘agreement with him.’ His platitudes for himself, especially about the economy, did not resonate to those who are living it in the real world – and know the facts.
You know how the President now keeps saying the Republicans want to end Social Security and Medicare? It goes back to a year ago when FL Senator Rick Scott proposed a plan in which: “All federal legislation sunsets in 5 years. If a law is worth keeping, Congress can pass it again.” Sounds like a plan we’ve needed for a long time.
Shooting down the Chinese balloon w/e after a week of surveillance over the continental US sent another message to China and the world that we are weak – not the world’s superpower. The Chinese claim it was just a weather balloon that went off course (as they controlled it with onboard GPS and info sent via satellite.) They obviously got want they wanted. Another airborne something was shot down over Alaska on Friday, and one more over Canada yesterday.
What a disaster the recent earthquake along the Turkey/Syrian border was last week. Over 23,000 dead – tens of thousands more injured.
Tidbit of history: Daylight Savings Time was first instituted by Congress/FDR in 1942 -2 months after Pearl Harbor – in the throes of WWII to save energy.
