(Note: These last two posts have resulted in more than the usual amount of comments that I receive. Some have merit, others not so much. Only one person posted his comment on the blog. The others were emails addressed to me.)
I'll start with the comment on the blog. Yes, the Baltic states are now part of NATO. And another comment I received said that I was incorrect when I quoted Biden saying he did not want a war with Russia, as it was in the context of Ukraine, not defending NATO countries. I agree. I should not have used that quote. However, I did see an interview given by Biden, and I am fairly certain that he emphasized that he would not engage in any shooting war with Russia. However, Biden has now said multiple times that the US and NATO would defend every square inch of NATO territory.
The comment on the blog also says that Bush did nothing when Russia invaded Georgia. I agree. To say that Putin did nothing while Trump was in office because Trump was his "compliant lackey" is preposterous. If that were true, then during the Trump Administration would have been the perfect time to invade Ukraine because Trump would not do anything about it. And Trump did not tear NATO apart. He actually tried to strengthen it by telling our European partners to step up and pay the required 2% of GDP that the US has paid.
Yes, Trump did ask Germany why the US should defend them against Russia when they are paying billions of dollars a year to Russia for the energy Russia supplies to them. So Trump trying to get the Europeans less dependent on Russian energy, which would hurt the Russian economy, makes him a "compliant lackey?" It makes no sense.
The comment also asserts that so many on the right are cheering Putin on. Who? I know that Tucker Carlson, on Fox, made some ridiculous comment questioning why we should support Ukraine over Russia. But so many on the right are cheering Putin on? Where's the evidence for that? Actually, it is the left in this country that has a 100 year history of supporting dictators over America. Professor Mearsheimer (the antisemite who co-wrote "The Israel Lobby") wrote a piece explaining why the West is responsible for this war, because the West/NATO encroached on Russia's former sphere of influence - which included not only the former Soviet Republics (such as Ukraine), but also on the former Warsaw Pact countries. Bernie Sanders, always ready to blame America first, agrees with Mearsheimer. They also are both anti-Israel.
Another commenter said Part I of my Ukraine post was to defend Trump. So one paragraph about Trump's comment made the entire post about Trump? I get this type of comment all the time. People will single out one sentence or one paragraph, and ignore everything else that I say. To borrow from Simon & Garfunkel: "A man hears (reads) what he wants to hear (read) and disregards the rest." The other complaint about Part I was asking if I was suggesting that NATO guarantees of support for the Baltic countries was not enough to ensure their defense.
It was a fair question. The real question is whether NATO is up to the task both militarily and with sufficient readiness and motivation. I saw retired General Jack Keane on Fox say that when John McCain was in the Senate he asked for an assessment of NATO's ability to defend the Baltics against Russia. The result was not pretty. In the "war games" they conducted, Russia was able to take the Baltics (Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania) in only 60 hours.
The complaint I received about Part II was my criticizing Biden for, caving to the left-wing of his party, putting an end to US energy independence. Had we not done that we could be supplying Europe's energy needs rather than Russia doing so. The suggestion, I think, was that the 3% of our oil from Putin is no big deal. That misses the point of our not being able to stop European countries from getting 40% to 60% of their energy from Russia. With US production cut by Biden, we cannot help wean those countries off of their dependence on Russia. And why should we be buying any energy from Russia or Iran.
The other complaint was that I seemed to not care about global warming. He's right. The priority is being energy independent so that the US and Europe have no need for Russian supplies. The priority is to stop sending billions of dollars a year to Russia. I am not like John Kerry, who, shortly before Russia's invasion of Ukraine, hoped that would not be a "distraction" from his work on climate change. What a moron! The possible subjugation of an entire country by a dictatorial regime is a distraction? I have to ask - is Kerry the dumbest person to ever serve in the federal government?
I'll end with this line from Kerry: "I hope President Putin will help us to stay on track with respect to what we need to do for the climate." I'm sure that is at the top of Putin's agenda. Just how stupid can one man be!
