Wrote this today to my senators and congressman,
Dear Senator Graham,
The situation in Ukraine today is not a war which we can safely ignore in a far-off country. This is not a local conflict which we can play into some distorted neoconservative chess match. What is happening today isn't new, nor is it unprecedented. This is the middle of a rebuilding of the Soviet Union, as an instigating and antagonistic force, and we must decide how it ends. The world has taken notice. This movement has galvanized the UN and the EU, and many individual countries into acting. These are positive steps towards a more united world, which we can all hope for to provide long lasting peace.
We are verbally supporting Ukraine. We are sending excellent armament to the soldiers of Ukraine. We are sanctioning and being blatantly obvious to show the world the Russian attempts at propaganda. The Biden administration has expertly countered every propaganda attempt at shifting the narrative with real facts, satellite imagery, and firsthand accounts. For the first time in history, the world is seeing the unwashed truth of a war.
And we are sad and angry.
World War I ended the period where a war was a series of battles to decide local disputes. Where Princes and Kings stood far off to watch their soldiers die for their cause. We entered a period where total war was probable and expected to return. We live in this global connected world today. To be sure, I understand the risks of entering total war with a nuclear power, one who’s seeming incompetence in conventional warfare is balanced with enough modernized nuclear warheads to end human civilization. I know what it would mean to volley long-range missiles over the oceans. The dirty truth is that this is already a global war. We have already been at total war. It seems the hope of Putin is that he goes slowly enough that we won’t fight back. In 2008 it was Georgia, in 2014 Crimea, in 2022 Ukraine. To be sure, these are all non-NATO countries, then again is this strategy? If in a decade a NATO country is the victim of a confusing propaganda war, perhaps one more convincing than today, will NATO respond as its charter requires? Even if nuclear war is a probable result? Or will we capitulate and assume we must let it end to keep the peace on a larger scale. This sounds a lot like kicking the can down for someone else to worry about later. It sounds a lot like the appeasement strategy in 1938. Hitler and Putin are starting to sound a lot alike. Since Putin isn’t blinded by pure hatred, he’s likely even more dangerous over time.
So, what do we do? To start with, we must be better prepared to be sneaky. Putin made up all sorts of reasons to go to war. We can’t avoid this, but we can counter. France sent GIGN security forces to protect the embassy in Ukraine. We sent our ambassador home. Why not send the ambassador back, with a navy SEAL team as the security force? Why not send our hospital ships to the Black Sea, accompanied by a few battleships, subs, destroyers and cruisers? Why not send a nice big convoy of medical supplies and food by truck in broad daylight, accompanied by some Bradley Fighting Vehicles, just for protection? In the Korean conflict, we were surprised to hear that the Korean pilots spoke fluent Russian. Can’t we find some Ukrainian pilots who speak English to assist? I’ll help paint the Ukrainian flags on the F15s. These are ideas from a civilian. You are better briefed on what maneuvers we could make, and what their effectiveness is likely to be. Let’s not just sit on the sidelines and watch, pretending that we always play by the rules while we watch Ukraine get decimated.
For official actions, several amazing NATO countries are eager to take on refugees. I have a friend in Hungary organizing a shelter right now. We need to establish a humanitarian corridor for civilians to escape. We have all seen videos of Russian troops destroying random people driving away in their personal cars, or just walking down the street. We cannot let this stand, and still claim moral superiority! I demand we establish corridors from the major cities to neighboring NATO countries. We must enforce these corridors with air support and ground support. Spray paint red cross logos on A10 warthogs and M1 battle tanks if we must.
We can easily save thousands of lives from this conventional war. We can do this today.
We can easily sway this war to push Putin back within his own borders and weaken his imperialistic goals, setting his administration back decades.
Or we can continue to offer just enough support to make it look like we care, while innocent lives end daily.
The citizens demand we act. Act now.
