202 - "Evil Cannot be Trusted," Zelensky Warns Potential Backsliders and Apostates

            Those were among President Volodymyr Zelensky’s stirring words when he addressed the United Nations on Tuesday, following President Biden. Both were exhorting UN members sitting on the supposedly “neutral” fence to support Ukraine’s bitter battle for its and their freedom. But both consummate leaders were also engaging in the more important struggle to ensure that Western backers, particularly the United States, retains their resolve to buttress the Ukrainian war effort against relentless Russian assaults.

            Putin, having failed to realize his 2022 gambit swiftly and painlessly to annex all of Ukraine to mother Russia and his continued bombardment of Ukraine having delivered massive pain more than victory, now relies for eventual vindication and success on waiting out the West’s weariness of his oppressive war. By hoping to outlast the West’s patience, especially any diminished appetite for helping Ukraine among consumers and crypto-isolationists in the U. S. and in some European nations, Putin schemes to sustain his imperialist ambitions.  His upcoming craven visit to Beijing could give him even more confidence, and reasons to hold on and on -- if President Xi Jinping promises to provide the war materiel that Russia now lacks.

            Absent such significant assistance from China – which Washington will continue to warn against publicly and through security back channels – Putin’s only hope for his faltering martial exercise (the fake “special operation”) is the impulse to reject further assistance to Ukraine for naked political reasons. That is what Republicans in Congress are doing. Their hard core rejectionist right wing – the Andy Biggs and Dan Bishops – thinks it can gain blue collar voter support by refusing to continue to approve what Biden and Zelensky advocate.

            Washington has transferred as much as $107 billion worth of supplies and cash to Kyiv so far and has a further $24 billion in the pipeline, pending budget negotiations this month with the Republicans in Congress.  The Pentagon is sending Abrams M1 tanks to Ukraine now, with F16 aircraft being released from Allied European surplus arrays as soon as Ukrainian pilots complete their arduous training.  Zelensky wants more and deserves more for his very slowly progressing reconquest of Ukraine’s east and south, en route conceivably to Crimea.  (Already, Ukraine has managed to attack installations in Crimea using sea drones, and is recapturing small villages back from Russians in Donetsk.)

            Thus, the twin speeches by Biden and Zelensky at the UN were forceful expositions intended to pull at the hearts and minds of Americans, especially those who might conceivably be able to influence the opinions and votes of politicians in critical districts now and next year. More than Biden, Zelensky was also trying to speak to Brazilian and South African leaders who have not yet fully rallied behind his defense of their sovereign rights. In his speaking sights, too, were the Slovaks who go to the polls shortly to choose between a pro-Russian candidate for prime minister and a pro-Ukrainan opponent. Zelensky also has to worry about shoring up his continued support in Italy and even in the rest of Europe where fascist-leaning political movements are becoming dangerously more popular.  (More on that last subject soon.)

            Just as Zelensky rightly articulated: “The goal of [Putin’s] present war against Ukraine is to turn…our lives…into a weapon against you, against the international rules-based order,” so Biden earlier warned smartly against allowing Ukraine “to be carved up.” If we permit that, he asked, “is the independence of any nation secure?”

            Zelensky also reminded his listeners that Putin was “choking off” Ukraine’s food exports to the world, especially to the African nations that desperately need its corn, wheat, barley, and cooking oil. Moscow was “weaponizing” food security, to the detriment of the poor in Africa and South America and making such essential supplies much more costly.

            Arguing strongly that succumbing to an oppressor would be disastrously harmful to global respect for the rights of every people and a dagger thrust deep into the heart of world stability, Zelensky further cautioned against “shady dealings behind the scenes” – dealings that were intended to cut false deals with Putin to achieve the kind of fake truce or ceasefire that would only reward Putin for his dastardly invasion of an innocent and now battered people. Ukraine insists that the war must be won on its terms, with the full return of territory. Whether or not such a goal will prove realistic is less the point than that no eventual outcome should reward aggression.

            (In the International Court of Justice, Ukraine is simultaneously pursuing a judgment that a Putinesque repeated claim that Russia invaded because Ukraine was pursuing genocide against Russians is palpably false. Thirty-two nations, with Canada and the Netherlands in the lead, testified forcibly in support of Ukraine.)

            Unfortunately, Zelensky and Biden were both pushing back against the reality that fatigue does inevitably set in. People naturally tire of war, and simply want it over. Outsiders are less concerned than Zelensky and his compatriots about regaining Crimea and Luhansk. When Zelensky was speaking in the UN, the chamber was only half-filled, and some of those in the chamber refused to applaud when he finished. Likewise, the great American public would be glad to see the war off the nightly news and front-pages.

            But letting Putin win by waiting us out, or because Americans fold their hands and retreat, would be calamitous for the freedom of the world, for strengthening the rule of law in international relations, for respect for fundamental human rights, and for upholding sovereign integrity. If Russia invades and triumphs, then China can easily take Taiwan, and larger countries everywhere can threaten and possibly try to conquer their weaker neighbors.

            Biden and Zelensky were right to speak truth to power. Ukraine’s major sacrifices should be our sacrifices. Its massive human losses (perhaps 200,000 or more) and the shattering of its cities, factories, electrical installations, farms, and more is a burden the free world must share. There must be no shortcuts in defense of fundamental freedoms.

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