Upfront: I’ve changed my position on Ukraine and I should be honest about it.
I support Ukraine against Russia.
I started this Substack to vent about Ukraine. I got off the subject—because other subjects intervened, and because discussing Ukraine seemed futile. Was futile. The situation seemed to have devolved into a stalemate, with, perhaps, Russia “winning.”
You’re all welcome to look at my archives and type in the word “Ukraine.” It’s difficult to be brief about this, but to try, the debacle pullout from Afghanistan followed only six months later by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine forced me to look at the totality of American policy since George Bush 43, which coincided with the breakup of the Soviet Union.
Mini-digression: that historical fact, which elicits but a shrug now was once considered unthinkable, and was an earth-shaking event when it happened. But people adjust and then they retcon. We were all dumbstruck at this absolutely marvelous event.
As they say, be careful what you wish for, because the breakup of the Soviet Union leashed the devil of ethnic war, which Bush 43 warned about in a famous speech in Kiev. Now justly forgotten neocon warmonger William Safire caricatured the speech as “Chicken Kiev.”
Anyway, Bush lost (because of the third party candidacy of H. Ross Perot) and Clinton came and with Clinton came disastrous foreign policy. I could go on and on about Oslo which originally started as an attempt at accommodation between the warring parties and which, under Clinton’s hammy embrace, became a plaything of American politics. But I won’t, that’s another story for another day.
My point is that Clinton’s two foreign policy honchos, Anthony Lake and Richard Holbrooke, picked up Zbigniew Brzezinski’s anti-Russian policies and, from my perspective, proceeded to drive a stick into the bear’s eye every chance they could. Just when that bear was on its knees. Feeding into anyone’s paranoia, but especially a Byzantine crazy-house like Russia…
Dozens of wise men warned us that for Russia, Ukraine was a red line.
To repeat: I was and am in favor of a neutral Ukraine, integrated into the EU. Maybe Putin was lying when he said that he had no objections. Leaders do lie a lot. But I don’t see why he would have objected. What did he have against most young Ukrainians leaving Ukraine on an EU passport?
I repeatedly excused Putin. That, too, I don’t apologize for. I said that he leads a rickety federation with many Muslims. Chechens are doing most of the fighting in Ukraine. Hey, he’s like Biden with Dearbornistan except that we allowed them to emigrate here, those Muslim republics have been under the yoke of Islam for centuries.
I pointed out on Twitter many times that Putin has had, for a Russian, extremely close, even warm, relations with Jews. Strike that. Not “for a Russian”—for anyone. His surrogate father was a Jew. His German teacher was a Jew. Other close friends were Jews. In fact I’d go so far as to that that the only people that cold reptile had warm relations with were the Yidden.
Now, I’m going to do something a little silly. I, a person who writes a Substack with a hundred subscribers, am going to read Putin’s mind. I think he was personally stung by the reaction of many prominent Russian Jews to what Russians call the “special military operation.” To them, it’s Operation Peace for Ukraine1 They were putting down a fucking ethnic insurrection instigated by the West, with Russian casualties. In the middle of this, a bunch of prominent Russians suddenly discovered their Jewish roots to get an Israeli passport. It struck him as a stab in the guts. It sure struck me as shitty. I wonder if any of them are still in Israel.
Other stuff happened—the very not-Jewish Prigozhin mutiny, the needling challenge of Navalny, the stalemate in Ukraine whose face was the Jewish Zelenskyy… I don’t think these were huge factors, but they contributed to his increasing paranoia. I just put them out there to be upfront.
And this: I referred in one of my “Nimrod” posts about the peculiar “frenemy” relationship between Jewish Socialist Zionists and Communists. I’ll return to this some other time. But it’s there. I think October 7 ripped off that scab.
Then came October 7. I was shattered. I still am. The realist was mugged by reality.
Putin supported Hamas effusively. Far more than he had to to placate his Muslim republics. I sensed a vindictive quality. I schooled myself: He’s been playing host to Hamas for a while. And…
I won’t recount the cascade of horrible events since October 7; I’ll simply note that the formation of an Antifa-Axis of Resistance block supported abroad by Russia, China, and Iran became brutally clear.
This changed my perspective on Ukraine. Russia’s my enemy: simple as that.
There’s another aspect. We made a commitment and betraying that is dishonorable. I realize that I sound like everything I hated when I was young: those old guys who railed against “cutting and running.” You have no idea how many such arguments I heard growing up about that.
What can I say? I’m an old gal now and I think it’s wrong to cut and run.
But that really is ancillary to the main issue: Russia is the enemy. If the Swamp had been listening to me, I don’t think things would have worked out this way, but they did.
I think “the enemy of my enemy is my friend” is a pretty stupid philosophy. That’s how you end up like the Arab world: a seething mass of vendettas. Ukraine is not my friend. But it is the enemy of my enemy, to which my government made some commitments, and I have to support them provisionally. They are hurting MY enemy, and if they’re willing to swallow bullets, I’ll supply them.
What about those Nazis, the Azov battalion? They’re not the majority in Ukraine by a long shot but I must acknowledge that they’re a significant and strategically important faction. Guess what? They’re supported by a Jewish oligarch. That doesn’t make them good or their Nazi symbols and insignia excusable. It makes them a tool. Use them and break them.
If only Ukraine had had a generation of peace to squeeze this insanity from its system… but it didn’t.
Here we are.
I’m not proud of myself. This passage from Gone With the Wind comes to mind:
“You were a good risk, my dear, an interesting risk. Why? Because you didn’t plump yourself down on your male relatives and sob for the old days. You got out and hustled and now your fortunes are firmly planted on money stolen from a dead man’s wallet and money stolen from the Confederacy. You’ve got murder to your credit, and husband stealing, attempted fornication, lying and sharp dealing and any amount of chicanery that won’t bear close inspection. Admirable things, all of them.
They show you to be a person of energy and determination and a good money risk. It’s entertaining, helping people who help themselves. I’d lend ten thousand dollars without even a note to that old Roman matron, Mrs. Merriwether. She started with a basket of pies and look at her now! A bakery employing half a dozen people, old Grandpa happy with his delivery wagon and that lazy little Creole, René, working hard and liking it. ... Or that poor devil, Tommy Wellburn, who does two men’s work with half a man’s body and does it well or—well, I won’t go on and bore you.”
Nor will I bore you by going on further.
I support Ukraine. I am the most cynical fair weather friend imaginable. I’ll go my own way when I see fit. But as long as Vladimir Vladimirovich runs Russia, I’m your gal. Just don’t ask me to say Слава Україні.
That’s a play on Operation Peace For Galilee.
I’m curious how you ever found sympathy in your heart for Putin. Yes, he inherited a mess, and he sees himself as Russia’s savior. But, still?
I see Putin in the lineage of Soviet/Tzarist authoritarians, apparently the only form of government that Russians can handle, with an exceptional brief foray into kleptocracy.
Ukraine is aiming toward a Western-style democracy. This is not an easy road as there’s plenty of Soviet-style corruption, but to abandon it to Russia would be not only dishonorable, but bad geopolitics.
Lots of good points here. We can support a country even if they are not perfect. We do have to admire the bravery of many Ukrainian men who are fighting on the front but we don't have to idolize Ukraine.
As for Putin - he is evil and his not being an anti-semite gets him only a few points.
I don't buy this Ukraine being a red line for Putin or Russia as neither Ukraine nor anyone in the West had or has any desire to invade Ukraine. The basic establishment case now is to appease and when that doesn't work, appease more.
Had Putin not invaded Ukraine it is pretty clear that threats here and there would have got concessions from Biden that he might not even get after this war is over (whenever that may be).