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The invasion of the Ukraine continues with as yet no clear idea of the outcome. As I write this the Russians are nearing the city of Kyiv their advance slowed by fierce Ukrainian resistance.
President Vladimir Putin bears the blame for the war, destruction and killing in the Ukraine. President Joe Biden and his administration have aided and abetted the Russian invasion by its short sighted and foolish green energy policy. This is a policy that has made our NATO allies more dependent on Russian gas and oil and has turned us from the superpower of fossil fuel into an importer of oil making us dependent on 500,000 barrels of Russian oil a day. It is time for Biden to ditch that policy, which strengthens Russia in an increasingly dangerous world.
It is also readily apparent that Biden's Afghanistan pullout debacle emboldened Putin to attack the Ukraine at this time. It is interesting to note that Putin did not attempt any foolishness during the Trump administration who despite being painted as a tool of Russia by the Clinton campaign was nothing of the sort.
Why is Ukraine so important to Putin? Putin like all Russian leaders going back to Tsar Peter the Great have suffered from a national paranoia that made their primary foreign policy goal the creation of buffer states on their European border to block the influence of western culture and attacking western armies.
Putin who is afflicted with that national paranoia and, based on his recent rambling speech justifying the attack and listing his hurts and grievances, might be in the early stages of dementia, was a KGB apparatchik in the last days of the Soviet Union and longs for the good old days of the Soviet Empire.
To do this he wants to bring as many of the former enslaved nations back into the fold as buffer states.
Putin's greatest concern is that the Ukraine desires to become a member of NATO and had in fact written that desire into its constitution. This worried Putin because the Ukraine is poised like a dagger at the heart of European Russia. U.S. diplomat, Ambassador to Russia, and historian George Kennan who is credited with formulating the policy of containing the Soviet Union advised early in the cold war that any future attempts to add NATO members near the Russian border would reawaken Russia's national paranoia and was best not done. A guarantee by the U.S. and NATO that Ukraine would never become a NATO member would likely have defused the current crises.
It's really interesting to note that Russia's reaction to the Ukraine becoming a NATO member is very similar to our reaction to the presence of Soviet missiles in Cuba in 1962.
Sadly, a knowledge of history or a clear understanding of the historical mindset of our opponents has never been Washington's strong suit.
Russia attacked with 190,000 troops deployed along the Ukrainian border. Military observers feel that was a force of insufficient size to defeat an opponent the size of Texas with a 215,000-man army. Early in the attack the Russian advance began to slow coming under vigorous counterattacks by Ukrainian forces and by simply outrunning their inefficient logistical tail leaving their forces short of bullets, rations and fuel.
One retired America general stated that in war, amateurs speak of tactics but professional speak of logistics.
Although Russia may prevail in the end it should be noted that the Russian Military with the exception of World War II does not have a sterling record of victories in recent history. n 1856 Imperial Russia lost the Crimean War to a coalition led by England and France. During the Russo Japanese war of 1904-1905 after sailing half way around the world 35 ships of the Russian Baltic Fleet were sunk by the Japanese at the Battle of Tsushima. In 1917 Russian losses to Germany in World War I precipitated the revolution that eventually gave us the Soviet Union and that nation nearly lost the "Winter War" of 1939-1940 with tiny Finland and was only able to achieve victory after England and France were distracted by their war with Germany.
Finally, a 10-year Russian incursion into Afghanistan ended in 1989 when Russian forces withdrew after suffering heavy losses.
NATO may have come together because of the Russian invasion but has its own problems. Only 10 member nations that include the United States, Great Britain, France, Greece, Poland, Croatia, Romania, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia meet the goal of 2% of Gross Domestic Product being spent on defense. Now Germany has pledged to increase its defense spending to 2% of GDP.
This leaves 19 other nations short of that goal. In our increasingly dangerous world NATO members need to make greater efforts to spend their fair share on defense if the alliance is to remain viable in the face of threats from nations like Russia and China.
In closing, take it from me that war is not a game like paint ball or a video game. While some revel in war for most it is an experience that is nothing like anything else soldiers or civilians experience in life. I think often of the people of the Ukraine who are fighting and dying to keep their nation free from an aggressor who sees that freedom as a threat. May God be with the Ukraine and its people.
Thomas Kirkpatrick Sr. is a Silver Creek resident. Send comments to editorial@observertoday.com