How much support for Ukraine?

 

When we talk about our support of Ukraine, we have to realize what is taking place in Eastern Europe.  People in the Baltic states are very on-edge and resolved not to let Russia retake their lands. Lithuania hosts enormous numbers of refugee Ukrainians and had no trouble getting 2% GDP spending on defense.  The legislature upped it to almost 3%.  (2% is what Trump trumpeted) Estonia does 4%. Gun carry permit applications have tripled in Latvia.  And everybody says that Russia won’t stop if they take over Ukraine.  Balts are next. So while we may groan about how USA is spending so much more than our NATO allies, just how much can Estonia with 1 million people and an economy still recovering from communism support?  During the Soviet era, Russia removed half the populations of the Baltic countries to Siberia and replaced them with Russians. After 1992, some came back but large enclaves of Russians live in their countries--many of whom agree with the Balts that they don’t want Putin. If USA doesn’t defend the Baltic countries, we will be the horse’s ass of the world.  Likewise Finns want to join NATO in the worst way, yet Ergodamn of Turkey won’t vote for them.  Finland is very well-armed. EVERY young man must serve in the military. It’s unlikely that Russia would attack Finland.  They tried during WW II and failed.  And if Estonia is attacked, look for Finland to come in. They are the same people with the same language and culture.  Poland and Ukraine were once the same culture and people, split over religious denomination and leadership.  Poles are harboring something like 5M Ukrainian refugees. They wanted to give old MIGs to Ukrainians and Biden drug his feet.  Moldova is another small country full of half-Germans and half swamp.  Russia craves their land on the southwest of Ukraine because it is a staging ground for influence into Slovakia and Serbia. (Slavs.  Russia claims to be lord of all Slavic people the way Hitler claimed any country with a large German minority should be his.)

            What do we make of this?  Yes, we are spending a lot in a proxy war and need to watch this.  Yes, there needs to be a plan to win and an end game. But the people who have lived under Russian dominance are very willing to fight. Dither and Europe will lose. But as each day goes by, Europe becomes more united against Putin.  The Macaroon guy and the Socialist Democrat Sargeant Scholtz guy are coming around.  Europe’s economy is recovering better than USA (less inflation!) and Ukraine is full of talk about how they have to become more democratic and leave behind the oligarchs they had like Russia. And we face a mixed choice of what to do. But so did France in 1781 over the rebels in America.  Support or get involved or what? They showed up just in time to blockade the Chesapeake, denying British resupply of Cornwallis at Yorktown.  Washington and the other people much-motivated to fight for their country, did the rest. If that French commitment hadn’t happened, we’d be singing “God save the King” (Charles III and his messy outfit), drinking tea with cakes instead of having a good steak for supper ( or enchiladas or lasagna) and we would have had slavery much longer to support their lousy textile industry.