Is it time to throw long instead of bleeding money for more of the same?
The only thing more presumptuous than an armchair quarterback is a desktop general blogging from the safety of the Emerald City in wintry Wisconsin USA. But does that stop the Squire of Stately Blaska Manor? Hell no!
Volodymyr Zelensky’s well received address to a joint session of Congress Wednesday 12-21-22 echoes Winston Churchill’s wartime address in 1941. That’s when he said if his father had been American and mother English, instead of the other way around, he might have made it there on his own.
The arsenal of democracy is sending more Christmas gadgets of death to besieged but doughty Ukraine — $1.8 Billion worth! — while Congress debates gifting another $45 billion. More tit for Putin’s tat. The budget hawks on both sides of the political aisle are war wary. Our total $68 Billion in aid to Ukraine so far is an investment in democracy and national security. But at the price of making the rubble bounce?
Is it time to throw long? Time for MacArthur to land at Inchon? Cross the Delaware River to surprise the Hessians on Christmas Day?
An international bearing of witness
What would happen if, say, Poland sent several regiments to western Ukraine, perhaps joined by Slovakia and the Czechs? Throw in a platoon of Romanians and Bulgarians for seasoning. A company of U.S., Canadian, British and Swedish “peacekeepers” — volunteers, all — posted in Kiev and other major cities. A squadron from the Baltic States to interpose their lives and moral conscience against the wanton destruction of civilian infrastructure. Far enough from the Rooskie border to allay any threat of offensive invasion, but stylish French and Italian boots on Ukrainian soil just the same. (NATO article 5 does not require their intervention but neither does it prohibit. In any event, it would not be a NATO action, per se.)
Their mission could be portrayed credibly as humanitarian. Help put out the fires, clear the rubble, restore power, police the streets. Also, two greater strategic purposes:
- Free up Zelensky’s fighters to wage war at the front.
- Put Putin on the spot — does he really want to risk harm to NATO members by bombing civilians with whom they are embedded? The Amish who came peacefully to help Harrison Ford at the conclusion of the movie Witness stopped the violence merely by their brave presence.
Blaska’s Bottom Line: It’s a statement: the world stands with Ukraine and against naked aggression. A moral rebuke that will resound throughout the world.
Blaska Policy Werkes 
34 responses to “Would this stop the killing and destruction in Ukraine?”
When is Europe going to pair their “fair share?” From what I’ve seen, I’d say NEVER. Neither party has the balls to say “ante up or we’re out of here.” We should have told that to the UN years ago.
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Actually, Tr•mp did just that. Was unfairly vilified for doing so. Turned out to be prescient.
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“We should have told that to the UN years ago.”
Despite the EXEMPLARY job they had been doing, The U.N. gave up advancing the Human Condition when it discovered a FAR_MORE lucrative gig: The Global Warming That’s Here And Worse Than The Models Predicted.
Blame It On Rio, not the hilarious 1987 Michael Caine flick but the 1992 Rio Earth Summit, was thirty years ago as we speak, and where the Warmalista AlarmaCYSTS first realized the vast potential of pretending to cure Mother Gaia’s alleged fever.
There, while lolling in the kind of profligate, taxpayer-funded opulence which would make Pharaohs blush, the UN realized that Global Warming held FAR more promise than its to-date laughable efforts to uplift the Great Unwashed: It paid better (the shakedown possibilities were absolutely limitless), none of their ‘nadless troops would be put in harm’s way, and guilt suffocated White Lefties would get weak-kneed-n-swoon, and click DONATE NOW on command.
Brrr!
The Gotch
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That’s 2 Michael Caine movie references in 1 thread !
Believe it or not, was just thinking I need to rewatch BIOR and also Dressed to Kill.
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“That’s 2 Michael Caine movie references in 1 thread !”
Breaks the old record of one, am I right?
Anywho, despite an impressive body of work, Sir Michael’s had some bow-wow roles; the evil oil company CEO in On Deadly Ground would be at the top of that list.
He’s also had a coupla Sleepers: Shock To The System, Going In Style, Blue Ice, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels; those with the many others are enough to put him in The Gotch’s Top Ten.
One that REALLY stayed under the radar was Secondhand Lions. A bit hokey, but (IMO) a fun flick to watch; co-star Robert Duvall (also Top Ten) made it even better.
The Gotch
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Actually, they (Europe) just surpassed us in terms of aid given to Ukraine, with Germany leading the way among the European nations.
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very interesting comparison with the movie Witness. Interesting idea. And the commitment by the EU countries would be small enough that they would not need to worry about their bottom line much….
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Rewatched the movie “InterStellar” the other night. There’s the scene where the teacher tells Cooper the moon landing was faked to get the USSR to bankrupt itself.
We are doing a hell of a job bankrupting ourselves already and now this. I think only a small percentage of aid will end up where it’s supposed to go. There will be 0.0 tracking of any of this money.
Kinda silly for the US to end up in economic ruin; helluva democracy.
In the end, China wins.
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“I think only a small percentage of aid will end up where it’s supposed to go. There will be 0.0 tracking of any of this money.”
As usual, OE brings up strong points; fact-based Reality denyin’ Lefty, et al, would have you believe that Ukraine is “the Eastern European version of Denmark;” any truth to that?
Not exactly.
Transparency International (which ranks corruption in 180 countries) has Ukraine at 123rd; Russia’s just a few clicks lower at 139th.
Welcome To Ukraine: The Most Corrupt Nation In Europe
Now, is Ukraine “a plucky and noble bulwark of freedom and democracy” and the doe-eyed Time Magazine Person Of The Year Zelensky the 2nd Coming of The Mahatma?
Not exactly, 2.0
Ukraine’s Track Record Of Protecting Democracy And Civil Liberties IS NOT MUCH BETTER Than Its Performance On Corruption
A Fool And His Money Are Lucky Enough To Get Together In The 1st Place Gordon Gekko
The Gotch
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The feds just gave Mississippi 600M to fix the water system in Jackson. Good thing the gumment appointed a 3rd party to handle the funds so Favre and the corrupt gop can’t steal it all. It looks like we have a corruption problem ourselves.
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Imbecilic, cluelessly unfunny, off topic blather.
IOW, the ONLY idiotic slobbering a generationally illiterate, 75 year old Lazy @$$ Blogge Idiot can muster.
#PitiablyPathetic!
The Gotch
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Not as off topic as your slobbering about movies. Idiot. MY comment was addressing the corruption that the more intelligent people were talking about. All you have left is insults. Just like your hero tRump.
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>> “I think only a small percentage of aid will end up where it’s supposed to go”.
So what? It’s still worth supporting them.
Ukraine is gutting Russia (one of the biggest threats to Democracy) using what amounts to 5-10% of our annual military budget. It is The Bargain of The Century for US taxpayers. We will never again see such a good ROI on aid given to another country.
If a few million $$, or even billion $$ gets misdirected, we should be OK with that. Because the balance of the funds are still being spent prudently, to effectively make the world a safer place.
Now. Who can we find to do the same damn thing to the CCP?
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The CCP is the Conrad Dobler of this whole thing. There won’t be anyone left strong enough to stop them after this.
When the masks drop, PUT YOURS ON FIRST then help the child. We as a country have obviously never learned this lesson.
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Biden and his cronies are doing in Ukraine what comes naturally for Democrats: throw enough taxpayer money at any problem–except our Southern border–and it will go away. If you think the bill is astronomical now, just wait until Russia launches its counter-offensive. As for sending in troops from NATO countries, assuming they could ever be persuaded to fight instead of parade around in designer uniforms, that’s a sure-fire way to trigger Putin’s arsenal of nuclear weapons.
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What you wrote is a lie, gussied-up with party-line rhetoric so that other readers will agree with you.
With respect to supporting Ukraine, Biden (and his cronies) are representing the overwhelming majority of Americans. According to the best/most-recent numbers I can find ~70% of Republicans think we should be supporting Ukraine.
also…which Russian counter-offensive are you “just waiting” for? Their offensive potential has been spent. Their force is now dependent on untrained conscripts and convicts recruited from prison. They’re sourcing ammunition and materials from Iran and North Korea!
They have not gained an inch of ground in months, and Ukraine is judiciously using defensive strategies to continue bleeding them dry. Everywhere that Ukraine has launched a counter-offensive (Kyiv, Kherson, Kharkiv, etc…) they have steadily beat-back the Russians. The only card Putin has left is bombing apartment buildings, maternity wards, hospitals and public infrastructure.
You’ve attempted to exploit this human-tragedy to grind your party-line axe? That is just a filthy thing to do.
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“The only card Putin has left is bombing apartment buildings ….” You’re missing the card he has up his sleeve called nuclear weapons–oh wait, we’re not supposed to think about those. To watch Congress slobber over that little GI Joe wannabe was ludicrous but the height of absurdity came in the endless comparisons of him to Churchill in 1941 (which would cast the senile old charlatan in the White House in the role of FDR). Those who forget history–or learn it only superficially–are doomed to make ridiculous analogies.
What no one–least of all the mainstream media–wants to admit publicly is that the ultimate goal of all the bloodshed is regime change in Russia, the same tactic that worked so brilliantly in Iraq and Afghanistan.
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And what you’re missing, or rather, omitting intentionally is that Biden et al. have only provided short-range weapons which cannot readily be used for attacking the Russian homeland — thereby denying Putin the justification needed for a nuclear launch.
Whether you like it or not – Zelensky is the only thing standing between Putin and the rest of Europe (and by association, the US.) That fact all by itself makes him worthy of high praise…why wouldn’t you compare his leadership to Churchill?
You should retract or delete the contents of your original post. There’s no truth to be found there…just inflammatory rhetoric and fear-mongering.
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Apparently the EU has stepped up for about $51.8 billion, not a small number, Google Ukraine support tracker
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Jim Jordon added an amendment to the bill for $500 to buy Zelensky a suit. Thanks Jim.
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Divide that $51.8 billion by the number of countries in the EU/NATO and suddenly it begins to to look like peanuts–which it is. And once again it’s the saps (aka American taxpayers) who end up footing the real bill.
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Ha, that’s like saying divide the US input by all 50 States. Then by each States economic output. Or something like that.
Our wimpy European partners need to contribute more, they have more skin in the game.
They are kind of stepping up. And you know what, if it wasn’t for Trump calling them out a few years ago, our EU friends wouldn’t be paying up like they are now.
Just be happy the EU tight wades are paying anything
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So, in a span of less than a year, the Biden administration abandons Afghans (especially women) to Taliban gangsters and human rights scofflaws and then throws Ukrainians the U.S.’ checkbook. How many screams of racism would there be if this had been a Republican president?
Yes, Putin is a rat bastard. Regardless, I am sick of fighting and paying for wars, whether directly or by proxy. I want to know where our support for this latest one ends.
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Judging by our last couple of wars, I’d say 20 years is a reasonable bet–20 years followed by humiliating defeat, that is.
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It is the only result the Washington Party/Pentagon/Industrial Complex can tolerate. All 17 intelligence agencies agree.
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I can’t really go with Dave on this, I think. I do not think the Witness analogy holds. The corrupt Philly cops, for only one of several things, were way out of their neighborhood. No matter how much blood is shed in Ukraine, it will still and always border Russia and both countries will still be entangled in one another’s economic and political affairs, as they always have been. The best that can come of this tragedy is a partial and unpleasant compromise, and the rest of the world, including the U.S., should be pushing hard for that, however imperfect, temporary, or unfair it may be. It is going to happen that way anyhow sooner or later, and I say better sooner than later.
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Too bad the “diplomats” who could have prevented this whole fiascos by simply refusing to consider Ukraine for membership in NATO weren’t thinking along these lines before Feb. 24th.
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Dear Nathan,
It’s touching that you think Putin’s “justification” for using nuclear weapons would naturally coincide with that of the US/NATO. By that logic, Hitler should have surrendered when it became clear that Germany was about to go down in flames instead of taking the country down with him. But he didn’t–because authoritarian dictators tend not to be ruled by logic. If Putin feels cornered he has the capacity for taking not just his country but the rest of the world down with him.
As for your suggestion that I retract or delete the contents of my original post, all I can say is that you seem to misunderstand the purpose of this forum. Though as a good Madison progressive, I’m sure you see retraction and deletion as the only viable options when it comes to dealing with viewpoints other than your own.
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>>Though as a good Madison progressive, I’m sure you see retraction and deletion as the only viable options when it comes to dealing with viewpoints other than your own.
Not really. I see retraction/deletion as the only honorable means of dealing with lies and bullshit propaganda. You’ve said written nothing of substance….and worse, nothing with any truth to support it.
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“‘What is truth?’ said jesting Pilate and did not stay for an answer.”
–Francis Bacon
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“Quoting something pithy is not the same thing as a compelling argument.”
– Nathan E. Marks
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But it can function as a riposte (its purpose here), and much depends on how apt the chosen quote is.
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My take on your first post is that you’re using empty party-politics to sway the opinion of others against the Ukraine war.
Your initial post was effectively a bald-faced GOP dog-whistle regarding Biden throwing a bunch of taxpayer money at the Ukraine war. But you failed to provide meaningful context: Biden’s many predecessors did the same and much worse, with nothing as meaningful to show for the resources expended. (Iraq? Afghanistan? nope. nope. )
BUT – in Ukraine we are getting something more tangible – the destruction of the largest contributor of global political instability. Russia is being reduced to the level of North Korea. Ronald Reagan is probably waving pom-poms in his casket.
You also trotted out the fear-mongering “Putin’s Nukes!!!” card. But you are again, ignoring the big picture: if we appease Putin to keep him from using his nukes now, he will overrun Ukraine. Can you guess what will happen next? He will overrun Warsaw, Berlin, and then London. He’ll do all of these things while we cower in a corner “because nukes”.
We cannot stop him from using his nukes, no matter how much we appease him. It is absolutely the right call to throw lots and lots of money at Ukraine — they are currently shedding their blood, keeping the rest of us safe. The better we equip them, the less blood will be shed.
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Thrill to “Putin in London,” the newest tale of international intrigue from the author of “Putin in Warsaw” and “Putin in Berlin.” Watch for it soon at you local bookstore! “Explosive!” says the New York Times. “Prescient!” raves the Washington Post. “Couldn’t put it down,” says Secretary of State Anthony Blinkered.
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