Understanding Why Ukraine (and the World) Need Us Now
Or, Why America Cannot Afford to Sell Ukraine Out
Much could be said about the sad, demented plan of wannabe Trump assassin Ryan Wesley Routh. Most obviously, we as Americans should all renounce his use of political violence, whatever his dangerous, scattershot, and harebrained motivations were.
If they were “in support” of Ukraine, then, frankly, Ukraine does not need his support. Particularly if J.D. Vance’s statements on Ukraine give any indication of what policy he would pursue as POTUS. Our chance to help Ukraine will come at the ballot box. Do not blow it. As crazy and demented as Ryan Wesley Routh was, he was right about one thing: at its heart, the war in Ukraine truly is a struggle between good and evil. Putin is a dictator, a megalomaniac just as obsessed with conquest as 1930s Hitler was.
Ukraine is a nation trying to fight that man. Even when Republican politicians like Donald Trump attempted to shake them down in 2019, or sell them out in 2023 and 2024. Even when Russian glide bombs pummel the front lines. Even when Russians inched closer and closer to Ukranian cities like Pokrovsk.
And even while Putin runs a criminal operation to steal Ukrainian grain so that he can disrupt the world food supply, threaten the Ukrainian economy, and prolong the war for the express purpose of breaking Western resolve.
Ukraine—and the world—need us more than ever. If you are still unconvinced, take a look at the recent 60 Minutes segment on China’s aggressions against the Philippines in the South China Sea. At first, these conflicts may seem far removed from your daily lives. They are thousands of miles away. Why should you care?
Here is why. Because imperialist dictatorships like Russia and China are fighting for every inch of territory they can get. Russia is fighting to get maybe only a mile closer to Pokrovsk. China’s ships regularly ram and raid Philippine boats to take control of Sabina Shoal, an island of the size of 52 square miles.
Yes, they are not just small slices of land. These are strategic locations, with important natural resources the Russians and the Chinese want to exploit. But that’s exactly the point. Russia and China are there to plunder. They are there to expand, they are there to oppress. They are there to commit war crimes like they did in Bucha, and like they do every day in Xinjiang and in the Russian-occupied areas of the Donbas.
Still, why should you care? Because slowly, by doing nothing, you encourage them. China has been expanding its claim over the seas for 10 years now. They have built 3,200 acres of new artificial islands in the South China Sea (I wish I were joking) waiting for this moment. That’s why China is waiting patiently to see what America does in the next few months.
Because if we back away, China will set its sights on Taiwan. Russia may—eventually, and perhaps sooner rather than later—set its sights on Estonia, Latvia, or Lithuania. Soon, as always happens when you choose appeasement, the borders of certain small countries become irrelevant. Distances away from home become shorter.
Allies will grow intimidated. Concessions will be made, either to stave off war or because our allies will continue to underestimate the threat. No, this is not “just speculation.” It is what brought Hitler so so incredibly close to taking over all of Europe and beyond.
Eventually, the American people too would feel the pain and the unease. And the stakes would be much higher than they are now.
So please, choose wisely. Do not feed Ukraine to the Russian wolves. Or else you may later find those same wolves prowling about in unexpected places.