The Ukrainian War Narrative: Paradoxes, Obsessions, and Disconnects
Approximately half of the United States sympathizes with Ukraine's plight and supports arming the country. This is due to the preemptive attack on Kyiv by Vladimir Putin on February 24, 2022, with the intention of overthrowing its government and transforming Ukraine into a Russian satellite, similar to Belarus or Chechnya.
The Ukrainians' heroic efforts to save Kyiv and halt the Russian advance beyond the occupied Donbas and Crimea have relied heavily on Western weapons deliveries, particularly from European NATO countries and the United States. However, despite a reported 1 million combined dead, wounded, or missing Ukrainians and Russians, the war remains at a stalemate with no clear end in sight.
The Current State of the War
Putin continues to threaten to break the static front with tactical nuclear weapons. The Europeans are growing weary, and no one in the United States has devised a strategy to push back the Russians from either their February 2022 demarcation points or their post-2014 occupation of Ukrainian borderlands.
This situation has resulted in numerous disconnects, paradoxes, and mysteries about the war, the Biden administration's role in it, and the overall geostrategic landscape surrounding the conflict.
The Question of Ukrainian Election Interference
Americans are demonized by the Uniparty elites for expressing doubts about their unconditional support for Ukraine. While the American people are largely anti-Putin, they are not always pro-Ukraine.
Evidence suggests that Ukraine interfered in the 2016 election. Reports indicate that Ukrainians in the U.S. gathered opposition research on Trump campaign officials and passed it to the Clinton campaign. In addition, Ukrainian ambassador Valeriy Chaly wrote an op-ed in 2016 criticizing then-candidate Donald Trump for his comments about Crimea.
The Biden family's questionable dealings with Ukraine have also raised eyebrows. Joe Biden leveraged $1 billion in congressionally approved U.S. military assistance to Ukraine to have prosecutor Viktor Shokin fired, who was investigating the large sums Hunter Biden was receiving from Ukrainian interests.
Ukraine's efforts to compromise prominent Americans, interfere in U.S. elections, and use their American contacts to facilitate arms transfers continue unabated.
The Problem of Corruption in Ukraine
One reason many Americans are skeptical of helping Ukraine is due to the country's own issues, including its corruption, its oligarchs' history of bribing U.S. influential figures, its interference in U.S. elections, and its dictatorial suspension of human rights, political parties, and elections.
The Dangers of Attacking Inside a Nuclear Rival's Homeland
Strategically, it makes sense for Ukraine to want to use European and American planes and missiles to strike depots and supply centers deep inside Russia, given that Russia does the same to Ukraine. However, equipping a proxy to attack far inside a nuclear rival's homeland was always taboo during the Cold War due to the risk of nuclear escalation.
The West and the U.S. currently have no strategy for a Ukrainian victory over Russia. The default assumption is to continue fueling the war and hope that Russia tires first.
The Ukraine-Israel Asymmetry
The Biden-Harris administration and many elites in Washington treat the wars involving Israel and Ukraine differently. They demand Israeli "proportionality" in responding to Hamas terror but encourage "disproportionality" for Ukraine to win the war. They call for ceasefires nonstop in Gaza and the Hezbollah war but do not instruct Ukraine to stop the war and negotiate with Putin.
The Left's Hatred of Russians
The left's hatred of Putin's Russia is understandable given Putin's 2022 aggression, but it's becoming obsessive. The loathing of all things Russian helps to explain the above paradoxes and obsessions.
There is an argument to help Ukraine survive Russian attacks. However, the consensus is being eroded by the current beltway messianic crusade for Ukraine, unlike the lukewarm and vacillating support for Israel, a closer ally.
Bottom Line
The official Ukrainian narrative requires denying or ignoring the escalating dangers of sophisticated weapons hitting deep inside Russia, the endless wastage of over a million youths, and the increasingly anti-democratic and election-interfering nature of President Zelensky and his Ukrainian entourage.
What are your thoughts on this complex situation? Do you agree with the points raised in this article? Feel free to share this article with your friends and discuss it further. You can also sign up for the Daily Briefing, which is delivered every day at 6pm.
The Ukrainian War Narrative: Paradoxes, Obsessions, and Disconnects
Approximately half of the United States sympathizes with Ukraine's plight and supports arming the country. This is due to the preemptive attack on Kyiv by Vladimir Putin on February 24, 2022, with the intention of overthrowing its government and transforming Ukraine into a Russian satellite, similar to Belarus or Chechnya.
The Ukrainians' heroic efforts to save Kyiv and halt the Russian advance beyond the occupied Donbas and Crimea have relied heavily on Western weapons deliveries, particularly from European NATO countries and the United States. However, despite a reported 1 million combined dead, wounded, or missing Ukrainians and Russians, the war remains at a stalemate with no clear end in sight.
The Current State of the War
Putin continues to threaten to break the static front with tactical nuclear weapons. The Europeans are growing weary, and no one in the United States has devised a strategy to push back the Russians from either their February 2022 demarcation points or their post-2014 occupation of Ukrainian borderlands.
This situation has resulted in numerous disconnects, paradoxes, and mysteries about the war, the Biden administration's role in it, and the overall geostrategic landscape surrounding the conflict.
The Question of Ukrainian Election Interference
Americans are demonized by the Uniparty elites for expressing doubts about their unconditional support for Ukraine. While the American people are largely anti-Putin, they are not always pro-Ukraine.
Evidence suggests that Ukraine interfered in the 2016 election. Reports indicate that Ukrainians in the U.S. gathered opposition research on Trump campaign officials and passed it to the Clinton campaign. In addition, Ukrainian ambassador Valeriy Chaly wrote an op-ed in 2016 criticizing then-candidate Donald Trump for his comments about Crimea.
The Biden family's questionable dealings with Ukraine have also raised eyebrows. Joe Biden leveraged $1 billion in congressionally approved U.S. military assistance to Ukraine to have prosecutor Viktor Shokin fired, who was investigating the large sums Hunter Biden was receiving from Ukrainian interests.
Ukraine's efforts to compromise prominent Americans, interfere in U.S. elections, and use their American contacts to facilitate arms transfers continue unabated.
The Problem of Corruption in Ukraine
One reason many Americans are skeptical of helping Ukraine is due to the country's own issues, including its corruption, its oligarchs' history of bribing U.S. influential figures, its interference in U.S. elections, and its dictatorial suspension of human rights, political parties, and elections.
The Dangers of Attacking Inside a Nuclear Rival's Homeland
Strategically, it makes sense for Ukraine to want to use European and American planes and missiles to strike depots and supply centers deep inside Russia, given that Russia does the same to Ukraine. However, equipping a proxy to attack far inside a nuclear rival's homeland was always taboo during the Cold War due to the risk of nuclear escalation.
The West and the U.S. currently have no strategy for a Ukrainian victory over Russia. The default assumption is to continue fueling the war and hope that Russia tires first.
The Ukraine-Israel Asymmetry
The Biden-Harris administration and many elites in Washington treat the wars involving Israel and Ukraine differently. They demand Israeli "proportionality" in responding to Hamas terror but encourage "disproportionality" for Ukraine to win the war. They call for ceasefires nonstop in Gaza and the Hezbollah war but do not instruct Ukraine to stop the war and negotiate with Putin.
The Left's Hatred of Russians
The left's hatred of Putin's Russia is understandable given Putin's 2022 aggression, but it's becoming obsessive. The loathing of all things Russian helps to explain the above paradoxes and obsessions.
There is an argument to help Ukraine survive Russian attacks. However, the consensus is being eroded by the current beltway messianic crusade for Ukraine, unlike the lukewarm and vacillating support for Israel, a closer ally.
Bottom Line
The official Ukrainian narrative requires denying or ignoring the escalating dangers of sophisticated weapons hitting deep inside Russia, the endless wastage of over a million youths, and the increasingly anti-democratic and election-interfering nature of President Zelensky and his Ukrainian entourage.
What are your thoughts on this complex situation? Do you agree with the points raised in this article? Feel free to share this article with your friends and discuss it further. You can also sign up for the Daily Briefing, which is delivered every day at 6pm.
