by Rod Williams, Sept. 28, 2022 - I am proud of America for stepping up to the plate and again being the arsenal of democracy. As one of the two most powerful countries on earth and the leader of the democratic nations of the world, we have an obligation to keep the world safe for democracy. I am proud of President Biden for his support of Ukraine and for rallying other nations of the world to do the same.
President Biden's disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan and abandonment and betrayal of the Afghanistan people was shameful. Many Afghanis had chosen freedom and had trusted the US to stand by them. By the time we withdrew the war was not costing us in American lives and our presence was keeping the Taliban at bay. Our withdrawal thrust Afghanistan back into a medieval nightmare. While our shameful handing of Afghanistan back over to the Taliban is a black mark against President Biden, he has shown courage and leadership in supporting the brave people of Ukraine. He comes close to redeeming himself.
The opposition to America helping Ukraine has come from the right in America. This surprises me. Throughout my lifetime, most foreign affairs have been nonpartisan but Republicans could be counted upon to be the more hawkish. When there has been opposition to American support for those standing up to Communist aggression, it had come from the left. Isolation and appeasement of totalitarian aggressors have not always come from the left, of course. Prior to World War II it was the American right that favored isolationism and appeasement. Since World War II, however, it has been the American left that has been the source of defeatism and pacifism Now isolationism and appeasement is coming from the right.
America's favorite political pundit is Fox New's Tucker Carlson and he has shown to be a mouthpiece for Vladimir Putin. Tucker Carlson is a Moscow propagandist. Tucker Carlson and other like-minded "conservative" voices spread the message that Ukraine is a flawed country not worthy of support and repeats the Putin argument that we are antagonizing Russia by supporting a country's desire for independence from Moscow. To them, we should not antagonize Russia by encouraging a country to align with the West if that country is currently within the Russian sphere of influence. These are the same arguments liberals were making when the US was challenging the Soviet Union's aggression.
One argument that Putin Apologist Republicans make is that the war is costly and we should be using the funds we are spending to support Ukraine to fix problems at home. Instead of supporting Ukraine, we should be spending that money on securing our southern border or helping homeless vets. This is not a new argument. It is an argument we are accustomed to hearing from liberals when they were the advocates of appeasement and isolation. They argued we should be spending the money on health care or anti-poverty programs and fighting global warming and global hunger. The size of the Defence budget has been a constant criticism of the left for decades. There are always other things our nation could be spending money on rather than military spending. Realists know, however, that we must stand up to aggressors if we are to exist as a nation and if freedom is going to flourish or survive in a dangerous world.
Another argument that Putin Apologist Republicans make is that we are doing more than our share. We should not be the one funding Ukraine defense, they argue. They argue that we are the primary supporters of Ukraine and that other countries should be doing more. In absolute dollars, America is doing more to help Ukraine than anyone else, but we have more. We are one of the richest countries in the world. Only a small handful of small countries such as Luxembourg and Monaco are wealthier. When looking at the wealth of a country and the percent of GDP that country gives to support Ukraine we are not doing more than many other nations. We are giving less than Estonia, Latvia, Poland, Lithuania, or Norway as a percentage of what we have. These countries are sacrificing to give. We should and could do more. If we let Putin take Ukraine, he will not stop there.
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