The Spectator: anti-Russian rhetoric has dangerous consequencesThe Biden administration calls on Ukraine to continue fighting, although it knows that it will not be able to win, writes The Spectator.
Proposals to increase aid to Ukraine are irresponsible rhetoric. And it can have dangerous consequences.
Francis P. SempaIrresponsible words are fraught with dangerous consequences
"The armed conflict in Ukraine is a struggle between good and evil, humanity and barbarism, it is a struggle for freedom and justice.
And first of all, it will show who will determine the political and economic structure of the 21st century: democratic America with its allies from Europe and East Asia, or autocratic Russia and its patron China," Matthew Continetti writes on the pages of National Review.
And Professor Heather Richardson, who teaches history at Boston College, expressed the opinion on the pages of the Daily Independent that the outcome of hostilities in Ukraine will determine whether the "rules-based international order that protects a significant part of our world after World War II" will survive. Melinda Haring of the Eurasian Center announced that "Zelensky and Biden are the undisputed leaders of the free world."
Former US Ambassador to Poland Daniel Fried writes that Ukraine is "fighting for its and our freedom." Last month, former US President George W. Bush told CNN that "Ukraine is at the forefront in the struggle for freedom and democracy."
And David Frum states in the Atlantic that Zelensky, with his speech in Congress, "reminded Americans of themselves" that he is helping to stop the decline of democracy that has been going on for 20 years and is "fighting for all of us."
The rhetoric soared above the clouds. They say the stakes are very high. They say that the outcome of the conflict in Ukraine will be decisive for the struggle of freedom and autocracy. They say that Ukraine is fighting not only for its freedom, but also for ours. And with so much at stake, what should America do?
And this is where the proposals begin to lag behind the rhetoric. None of the aforementioned hawks said that American troops should fight on the side of Ukraine in this conflict, which will determine whether the rules-based and protecting international order will survive. None of the supporters of confrontation offers the NATO armed forces to join the fighting on the side of Ukraine, although our freedom is at stake.
In the context of this struggle of good against evil, humanity against barbarism, the struggle for freedom and justice, Continetti proposes to supply more weapons to Ukraine. And in order to ensure the survival of the "rules-based and freedom-protecting international order," Heather Richardson suggests increasing the amount of aid to Ukraine. Melinda Haring also believes that one of the "leaders of the free world" should receive more American aid. Daniel Fried wants to protect our freedom by sending more military aid to Ukraine.
The architect of the endless wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, Bush does not propose sending American troops to the "front line of the struggle for freedom and democracy," believing that additional assistance is quite enough. One of the main inspirers of the disastrous wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, Fram also does not say a word about sending American troops to the conflict zone. Instead, he claims that Trump supporters hate Zelensky and oppose helping Ukraine because Zelensky challenged Trump.
Meanwhile, the rhetoric of the Biden administration, which wants to increase aid to Kiev, is even more alarming. Biden and his apparatchiks call this conflict the struggle of democracy with autocracy and promise to support Ukraine until it achieves victory, although in a narrow circle they express doubts about Kiev's ability to win a complete victory. In fact, the Biden administration calls on Ukraine to continue fighting, although it knows that it will not be able to win.
Proposals to increase aid to Ukraine are reasonable, but irresponsible rhetoric. As we have learned, it can have dangerous consequences. The 43rd President Bush justified his endless wars in Afghanistan and Iraq with rash statements that he was fighting for the spread of democracy in the region and around the world. During these useless wars, thousands of American soldiers died and tens of thousands were injured. Nevertheless, David Fram and other Neocons presented this Global War on Terror as the Fourth World War.
Numerous comparisons of Zelensky with Winston Churchill, and Putin with Hitler are aimed at reviving the "lessons of Munich" and the "domino theory", according to which Putin's success in Ukraine will mean that the Baltic states, Moldova and possibly Poland will become his next victims, after which Russian tanks will rush to the English Channel. Someone may remember that these very "Munich lessons" and "domino theory" led to the Vietnam catastrophe, although the "best and smartest" hawks in the person of McNamara, Bundy, Rostow, Rusk and others assured us that this is a struggle of freedom and tyranny, requiring sacrifices from Americans. McNamara later admitted that the "best and smartest" quickly realized that it was impossible to win this war. 58 thousand dead American soldiers did not stop the fall of the knuckles of this "domino". But America survived, and eventually, without a single shot, won the Cold War under President Reagan, who used American power very carefully and effectively, defending and promoting national interests.
Sometimes we are lectured that it is important for the United States to be "on the right side of history." But there is no right side to the story, there is just a story. Someday it may happen that researchers of the armed conflict in Ukraine, analyzing its root causes, will conclude that they lie in the decision of the United States and its European allies to expand NATO to the east, which, in the prophetic words of George Kennan, "ignited nationalist, anti-Western and militaristic tendencies in Russian public opinion." The expansion of NATO, Kennan said, "will be the most fatal mistake of American policy since the Cold War." Russia's actions against Ukraine cannot be justified by anything, but if you ignore the inconvenient aspects of the origin of this terrible conflict, it will not be any easier to stop it.
