Ukraine

[BluntForceTrauma]

My take on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine:

First, I like Putin for unapologetically putting Russia first, even if he is a sneaky former KGB bastard who changed the laws to keep himself in power and is always scheming to get rich selling Russian energy and arms to the world. But I’d be happy if Biden put America first half as much as Putin puts Russia first.

Second, Ukraine is run by mafia-like oligarchs (like, oh, Romania) and is corrupt from top to bottom (like Mexico). Ukraine’s military is dysfunctional, no doubt, cuz government officials have pocketed the money.

Ukraine’s democratically-elected government was pushed out by U.S. strong-arm tactics by the Obama administration in 2014 and the current corrupt and illegitimate Zelensky regime installed. The present Ukraine government is just as illegitimate as the Biden administration. (Yes, I went there, but that’s for another topic.)

Now, as a matter of principle, it’s not right to invade a country that has not invaded you, nor was threatening to invade you, nor had any capability of invading you.

If a corrupt government of a neighboring country is justification for invasion, then the U.S. is justified invading Mexico.

So, Putin is morally unjustified to invade Ukraine.

However, now that he has, for the sake of the average Ukrainian suffering under a corrupt and illegitimate mafia-like oligarchy, I hope Russia ousts the Zelensky regime. Admittedly, there’s a slim chance that Putin’s corrupt regime will replace Zelensky with a righteous regime. (The governments of Poland and Hungary are examples of “righteous” regimes that don’t have more than the standard amount of corruption and who, generally, have the best interests of the people at heart.)

And I understand nationalist fervor when one’s country is invaded, no matter how much one suffered under corrupt and oppressive leadership. (See Russia under Stalin in WW2.)

Bottom lines:

Should the U.S. send humanitarian aid to the people of Ukraine? Yes — provided corrupt officials don't intercept aid shipments and re-sell them on the black market like they do in Haiti and Africa and everywhere else.

Should the U.S. send Javelin and Stinger missiles to Ukraine? Well, yeah … OK. We armed the Mujahedin against Russia in Afghanistan, so — grudgingly — why not?

Should the U.S. send ground troops or declare a No-Fly Zone? Hell, no! You crazy? Billionaire investor Warren Buffet says, “You can’t do good business with bad people, no matter how tempting the deal.” Similarly, I say don’t get into political entanglements with corrupt governments. Didn’t we learn this in Vietnam?