First, I have to say that the MSM changed its tune rather quickly on this topic. Just a few days ago I was aggravated by their relentless downplaying of the rising tensions; it was only last week they had experts who kept trying to convince the audience that diplomacy would win the day and that somehow all of Putin’s moves were elaborate and drawn out negotiating tactics. Fast forward seven days, and basically, everyone is now seeing the inevitable, logical conclusion: War is coming. Christ! I’ve been warning an invasion is “imminent” — in the weakest sense of the word — since the beginning of December. In fact, I wrote a post called The Fall of Ukraine long before these “experts” on military and international affairs jumped on board the Captain Obvious bandwagon. Ugh. Whatever!
And now with the recent revelation from the U.K. intelligence that Putin intends to install a puppet government in Ukraine, we begin to see the larger picture, which, of course, is not at all surprising. Christ-all-f***ing-mighty! Putin tried and succeeded in infiltrating the U.S. government at the highest level. Everyone knows traitor trump was Putin’s puppet. Thankfully, the orange fat man is trump stupid; even Putin was disappointed in the end. Nonetheless, Putin was able to establish long-lasting disruption within the soul of America. I think it is fair to say, the current state of America’s dysfunction allowed Putin to create the Ukraine crisis. Now’s his chance to recapture history; I’ve said from the start that Putin sees Ukraine as being part of Mother Russia. Furthermore, he wants to reassemble the U.S.S.R. It doesn’t take an Einstein to surmise as much. Seriously. You just need to know a little bit of not-so-distant history.
Yet, the real question is how catastrophic will the Russian invasion be? Forecasting the imminency of conflict is rather easy based on informed reasoning that elucidates daily, but understanding how it develops after the first interactions is just guesswork. Does Russia drag us into World War III or does the fall of Ukraine remain a localized tragedy? Normally, being the contrarian means I can easily argue the World War III, worst-case-scenario perspective rather readily, but in this case, I have no clear insight. I do know Biden is weak, which is helping precipitate this entire mess. I am not blaming Biden, but the Democratic Party and his idealism have not done him any favors with his approval at home. As I said, Putin sees America divided, and I promise you, Putin has more support among RepubliKKKlans and MAGA morons than Biden does. A divided nation is not going to war, lest it tears itself apart (cf. Vietnam War), which would also be a win for Putin. Seriously! There is little downside for Putin to invade. When Biden misspoke during his press conference about a “minor incursion” and suggested divisions within NATO, they were not a poor choice of words; it was a Freudian slip. I don’t care how much clean-up on aisle 5 the State Department had to do to clarify what Biden really meant. What came out of Biden’s stream of consciousness mouth was a clear signal to Putin that the President of the United States is already gauging the least costly response to a Russian move. What Biden should be doing is to drop everything to prepare Americans for this impending conflict. Because as it stands now when war does break out Americans are going to be completely blindsided. The average American idiot can’t even find Ukraine or Russia (and in many cases the U.S.) on a f***ing map, let alone care about the consequences of an international conflict that will serve as a proxy for the struggle between democracy and autocracy. Unless Biden starts preparing Americans by explaining the significance of this moment in history, then morons of America will blame him for allowing war to interfere with their Facebook and Twitter time. He needs to prepare Americans for what military conflict with a former superpower is going to look and feel like. Even if the fighting is localized, the ramifications will be globalized.
Then there is Europe. They have little appetite for a protracted and expansive conflict. The sooner they can sacrifice Ukraine then the better for them. After all, what’s one country that falls under the authoritarian rule of Russia? Of course, it’s this short-sighted thinking, employed time after time and situation after situation, that’s emboldened Putin in the first place. We can thank Bush II and Obama for that. We should have slapped down Putin years ago, but we failed to do so. Now we have a braver, bolder, and stronger dictator that knows democracy is dying around the world. How will democracies of the world react? Dare I answer that? I think I already know the answer, and I fear much more is going to be lost than just the sovereignty of Ukraine. To be sure, the U.S. and NATO are starting to send military hardware and other support. And I do find it rich that the former Soviet satellite states of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania appear to be the NATO nations most eager and willing to provide Ukraine with military aid. But in all honesty, it is too little too late and truly evinces that the Allies are once again behind the eight ball and have sorely underestimated Putin’s resolve — another thing he’s already anticipated.
Biden has often said the world is struggling between democracy and authoritarianism. Ukraine will be a test of his sincerity and conviction in that belief. This conflict will be a monumental trail for the world. If the democracies of the world react to Russia in the same way nations of the world have addressed climate change, then we have nothing to worry about. 😐