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There's been a fair amount of discussion of America's military aid to Ukraine, and no few condemnations of those of us who have opposed that aid. I am informed, in fact, that this forum is overrun with Russian Propaganda, such that some no longer wish to participate. This is lamentable if true, so I thought it might help to prompt some elaboration of the pro-Ukraine case.
People who support aid to Ukraine, in whatever form, suppose that you personally are given complete control over the US government, and can set policy however you wish. What would your answers be to the following questions?
How much aid would you provide? Weapons? Money? No-Fly Zone? Air support? Troops on the ground? Nuclear umbrella? Something else?
What is the end-state your policy is aiming for? A ceasefire? Deter subsequent Russian invasion? Restoration of Ukraine's original borders? The Russian army destroyed? Putin deposed? Russia broken up? Something else?
Is there an end-state or a potential event in the war that you think would falsify your understanding of the war, and convince you that providing aid was a bad idea? Another way of putting it is, do you think your views on the Ukraine war are falsifiable, and if so, what evidence would be sufficient for you to consider it falsified?
...Reading comments from those arguing for Ukraine, I've noted from the start that many of the arguments presented in favor of aid appear to be mutually-exclusive. In this most recent discussion, I've seen some people arguing that we should be sending in US or NATO troops, and other people arguing that of course no US or NATO troops are needed and that sending them would be obviously crazy. This is a natural consequence of many people arguing many points of view in one forum, but it seems helpful for people to lay out their own views when possible; often, these positions are just stated as though they should be obviously true.
Now that the proxy is expended, Americans pivot to deep concern for Ukrainian lives, to sober realism about Ukrainian prospects. Ukrainians to blame, for fighting, for taking scraps that were thrown to them, for trusting empty American promises. Admittedly Ukrainians were suicidally naive.
I wanted Ukrainians to take whatever deal they could have when ahead because I thought US was never serious about Ukrainian victory, that current outcome is the default. I did not think the pivot would be so shamelessly bold and callous, so miserly. My money was on Ukraine going into the memory hole.
It's all so tiresome. America is not at fault for Ukraine's current condition nor do we owe them anything.
George Washington was right to warn against "foreign entanglements" in his farewell address. Any time we get involved, anywhere, all parties blame the United States for anything that goes wrong and never credit it for anything that goes well.
There's no winning.
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