So, I guess Putin was right all along. He hoped the Western alliance would eventually crack, though not as quickly as he wanted. But it seems after nearly two years of supporting Ukraine, N.A.T.O. and the Western allies have started to move on, reverting to isolationism and appeasement because I live in stupid f***ing hell. I see the cracks all around.
Here is the latest emerging fissure, according to N.B.C. News: “Poland is no longer arming Ukraine as it is focusing on building up its own stocks of weapons, the prime minister said on Wednesday, as Warsaw’s stance toward Kyiv shifts just weeks before an election. Poland is only carrying out previously agreed arms deliveries to Ukraine, a government spokesman said on Thursday, amid souring bilateral relations due to a grain dispute just weeks before a Polish parliamentary election. … Poland holds a parliamentary election on Oct. 15, and the ruling nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) party has come in for criticism from the far right for what it says is the government’s subservient attitude to Ukraine. The Confederation party, which has given voice to anti-Ukrainian sentiments, is third in many polls and has emerged as a possible kingmaker. Analysts say PiS’s tougher rhetoric on Ukraine is a response to Confederation’s increasing popularity. Marek Swierczynski, a defense analyst at think-tank Polityka Insight said that while it was probably true that Poland currently had no more weapons to give to Ukraine, Morawiecki must have known that the timing of his comments meant they would land ‘like a grenade into a cesspit.’”
This announcement is undoubtedly partly political, given the upcoming election in Poland, but the same thing is playing out in the U.S. The RepubliKKKlan Patry, when it was in the minority, sided with Ukraine, but now that they control the House, RepubliKKKlans are withdrawing their support and questioning the significance and need to help Ukraine. Then we have the no-shows by the heads of state from Britain and France at the U.N. when Zelenskyy spoke. (I guess King Charles was visiting France at the time.) Nonetheless, the optics are disastrous. All this is, of course, because the Western allies never took Russia’s illegal war on Ukraine seriously. For the last two years, idiot leaders have been dolling out military and humanitarian support like a strict allowance being reluctantly given up by a wealthy parent because the child was insufficiently supine when begging “for more, please.” (And they wonder why Ukraine is having difficulty pushing back Russia.) I’ve been saying this from the beginning: The Allies have failed to mobilize! While Biden has done an admirable job bringing all the member nations of N.A.T.O. and those other Allied countries together, they have all failed to put their economies on a war footing, which is the only way to help and supply Ukraine for the long term. Even the U.S. failed to do so. Consequently, according to some articles I’ve read, we are short on munitions, which will take over a year to replenish because — again — Biden did not put us on a war footing. So f***ing weak. But whatever! It’s just democracy dying worldwide, so who really cares?
Oh, sure. The West had correctly talked a good game about Russia upending the world order and warning that Putin will not stop at the Ukrainian borders. Yet, it seems that was just all smack-talk because Allied actions do not reflect such sentiments. Have these moronic leaders of democratic nations not realized — still to this day — that the world war has already started when Russia renewed and expanded its invasion of Ukraine? The West should have recognized the red flags when Putin invaded Ukraine in 2014. But no! Weak Obama and the rest let it happen — consequence-free.
Moreover, Zelenskyy is absolutely correct in criticizing the West for insufficiently selling the need to help Ukraine. This goes for Biden in particular. Biden’s address to the U.N. on the dangers of expanding authoritarianism worldwide to the detriment of democracies is not enough! Biden’s secret fundraiser speech about the risks of rising authoritarianism is leadership malpractice. I’m sorry, but Biden needs to be scaring the bejesus out of Americans daily about how Russia is coming to our borders. This on-again, off-again Dark Brandon is not enough and is rather pathetic. (I want Dark Brandon all the time!) There is no such thing as a part-time war. So, Biden has failed to sell the war, and he has failed to mobilize — imagine that. (And people wonder why his approval ratings are in the toilet; we need a forceful leader, not a once-in-a-while Commander-in-Chief. Yes, even Democrats desire strength in their leader!)
So, here we are nearly a decade after Russia’s initial invasion of Ukraine, and the West has learned nothing, nor do they remember recent history. Russia’s aggression is like the Nazis rolling over the Rhineland, the Sudetenland, and, eventually, all of Czechoslovakia while the Allies wring their hands, hoping things don’t get worse. Kill me now! Humanity never f***ing learns. Oh, well. It’s about to get much worse before it gets better. Or, perhaps the words of John McCain are more fitting: It’s always darkest just before it goes totally black. Welcome to stupid humanity!