Accusations and Condemnations do not help the Ukrainians

 From recent headlines:

UN votes to condemn Russian invasion of Ukraine
NATO accuses Russia of using cluster bombs
West condemns attack on nuclear plant

During Tuesday’s State of the Union address, Biden condemned Russian President Vladimir Putin and vowed that the United States is supportive of Ukraine.

That’s all great.  But condemnations and verbal support do not end the holocaust (I do not use that word lightly) that is occurring in Ukraine right now.

What is the West DOING?  What is President Biden DOING?

The West’s NATO refuses to impose a no-fly zone over Ukraine, despite pleas from Ukraine.  They say it was “a painful decision.”  Well, not nearly as painful as it is to the people of Ukraine who are dying.

President Biden keeps adding to his list of sanctions, all of which are ineffective.  Yet he continues to purchase Russian oil and gas, thus daily providing funds to the Russian war effort.  He does this while claiming he supports Ukraine, while that blood money he pays to Russia is used for the war effort that is destroying Ukraine and its people.

Talk is cheap.  The Ukrainians see the total ineffectiveness of talk as they realize they are nothing more than a disposable pawn in the power games of the West and Russia (and probably China too). 

We promised the emerging democracy of Ukraine that we would always have its back as we pushed it to join the West’s ever-expanding NATO power structure.  But where is that support now that the killing has begun?

Biden promised he knew what he was doing when he released Russian sanctions as part of his reverse everything Trump did policy.  When it was obvious to the world that Putin was likely planning an invasion, Biden continued to do nothing, saying sanctions would be better used after an invasion.  Now he says sanctions take months (if ever) to work.  If he knew what he was doing then he knew he was about to hang the Ukrainian people and their culture out to die.  If he had any remorse about doing so one would surely never know it.

Biden’s lies have put Ukraine in a no-win situation where they can continue to fight until all are dead and the country totally destroyed, or they can give up and let Putin have his way with them and their country.  As they continue to fight, their strength against Russia may be increasing the risk of nuclear and/or world war.  But how can anyone ask them to stand down and give up their country and who they are?

This is the no-win situation to which the accusations and condemnations without supportive action have led us.  Putin’s actions are clearly condemnable and criminal.  But simply saying that does not stop them.  What would have stopped them before they began would have been action in the form of sanctions and diplomacy.  That time has passed.  What might have caused Putin some pause would have been a better handling of the Afghanistan withdrawal by President Biden, but the lies and weakness and incompetence he showed there cannot be rescinded. 

Ukraine is being slaughtered.  Biden seems more concerned with not upsetting the Woke and Green wings of his party.  He will not lift his ban on oil and gas production in this country – a ban that is making us dependent upon Russian oil and gas such that we are indeed funding Putin’s war.  Biden is about to go forward with the Iran deal, adding nuclear capability to another country that is clearly not our friend and is a likely Russian ally.  He has shared our Russian intelligence and sanction strategy with China – yes, China!  And they of course shared it with Putin.

Biden is Putin’s ally and accomplice, no matter what his words may say.  We all know the phrase “actions speak louder than words,” and Biden’s actions directly contradict his words of support for Ukraine.  I don’t know if Biden’s actions and inactions rise to the level of war crimes, but they sure come close as being Putin’s enabler.

So what can we the people do? Make our voices heard. Write to the White House, write to Joe Biden, write to your representatives and senators in Congress.   Tell them to open U.S. oil/gas production.  Tell them that Ukraine needs weapons, not platitudes.  Tell them that the America that we all know and love would not allow Ukraine or any country to be a sacrificial lamb to a President’s political and power agenda. Take action with your votes in the upcoming midterms and future presidential elections.

It may very well be too late.  But perhaps not.  We owe it to the Ukrainians, whom our country urged to move toward democracy and Western values and promised support for doing so.  They kept their promise.  We need to keep ours.