The horrors are ongoing in Israel and Gaza, as they are in Ukraine. Shortly before the pogrom of October 7th, I put aside this link. Please click and read the whole thing. But here is an important paragraph, especially for those of us who are conservative (or conservative-ish) and fear that support for Ukraine is diminishing.

As Executive Director Carrie Filipetti, former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State in the Trump administration, said, the letter was necessary because “the false narrative that conservatives do not want to provide aid to Ukraine is a dangerous misrepresentation that could lead to Putin’s belief that in the case of a conservative win in 2024, he will receive a green light for continued assault.”  

Signed by key Trump administration officials such as the former U.S. Ambassador to Russia and Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan, former Secretary of Veterans Affairs Robert Wilkie, former Deputy National Security Advisor Matthew Pottinger, former Senators Roy Blunt and Jon Kyl, former Congressman and Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee Mac Thornberry, multiple former Assistant Secretaries, National Security Council officials, U.S. generals, and ambassadors, the letter explains how “without a single U.S. servicemember in harm’s way, America’s material support to Ukraine is degrading the war machine of Russia, one of the United States’ principal adversaries – an aggressive power working hand in hand with China to reduce America’s prosperity and overturn America’s victory in the Cold War.” 

I always say that I need to know where people stand on two issues to know everything I need to about them. Issue one is Israel – do they support its right to exist as the Jewish state? – and issue two is Ukraine – do they understand that the Ukrainians are in the right to keep fighting, to not want to give up an inch of territory? Which brings me to this remarkable, eye-opening article about Ukraine. What it describes is not something you will read or hear much about in the Western media (and I don’t just mean conservative media, although they are the worst offenders), sadly: it shows us a Ukraine that is inventive in the face of Russia’s aggression, it shows us Ukrainians recycling weaponry and rebuilding cities. It shows us a visionary Ukraine – innovative and clever. There are insights throughout the piece on what will happen if Ukraine wins and what might happen if – God forbid – they lose.

Canada is useless – we can’t/won’t meet our NATO responsibilities and we have next to nothing to offer Ukraine. We are in no position to criticize the United States on this matter, but I do wonder why the US is refusing to give Ukraine any F16s, and why they are so slow on sending the Abrams tanks they promised. I sometimes think maybe we’ve reached a point in history where we prefer murky endings to wars, no clear victor, attrition, stalemates. Are we afraid of what a change in geopolitics it would represent if Russia lost? Do we just like to reflect and ponder too much?

What I wrote a year ago. I like BHL’s recent piece here and Andrew Sullivan’s here.