The world is currently divided by a power struggle between a free world Western alliance led by the United States and an authoritarian Eurasian Axis led by China. The Ukrainian army is aligned with the West. The Russian army is aligned with China. It is therefore very much in America’s interest that the Ukrainian army be preserved and that Russia’s army should be destroyed.
Furthermore the defense of Ukraine is not just a fight on behalf of American power, it is also a defense of an essential principle of American foreign policy, that of deterrence. America has sacrificed vast amounts of blood and treasure since 1945 to uphold this principle – and rightly so, because it is the line in the sand that has prevented another world war for the past eight decades. It must be defended. This can only be done by denying Russia any fruit from its aggression.
The Ukrainians are willing to put their lives on the line to accomplish both of these tasks. It therefore is in America’s critical self-interest to give them all the arms they need to get the job done.
The response of the Biden administration to this vital imperative has been feckless. It has decided to send some arms to Ukraine. But instead of sending arms them as fast as possible, it has chosen to send them as slowly as possible, and in very limited amounts. For example Biden has decided to send Ukraine tanks, but only 31 out of the more than 6000 M1 Abrams tanks the US has available, and even those won’t be delivered until the fall. Essential arms, such as fighter aircraft and long range ATACM missiles are being denied completely.
This is an absurd policy, but Biden has been able to get away with it because up until now his loudest critics have been members of a Republican party faction who have been demanding that even the limited aid Biden has been offering should be cut off.
As this policy would ensure not merely stalemate, but total Russian victory, its GOP adherents, led by former President Donald Trump but also including such luminaries as Representatives Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) and Matthew Gaetz ( R-FL), can fairly be called Putin Republicans. In a statement provided to the ardently pro Kremlin Tucker Carlson and read on out the air on March 13, likely presidential candidate Florida Governor Ron DeSantis also entered this asylum by declaring that the Russian invasion of Ukraine was a mere eastern European “territorial dispute” in which the United States supposedly has no vital interest.
In the face of blazing criticism, DeSantis subsequently chose to cut his stay in the Putin fan club short by providing a second interview to Piers Morgan in which he stated that the Russian invasion of Ukraine was “wrong,” and that he viewed Putin as “a war criminal” for launching it. However, he added “I just don’t think that’s a sufficient interest for us to escalate more involvement.” On March 24, DeSantis amplified his incoherency further by advancing the ludicrous argument that we should not send weapons to Ukraine because we need all of them here – for example the 6000 tanks currently adorning army bases or otherwise in storage – to defend the American homeland.
But there is a third candidate in the race, former UN ambassador Nikki Haley, and she is neither a Putin Republican or a Code Pink Republican. No, Haley is a Reagan Republican.
It will be recalled that Ronald Reagan defined his policy towards the Soviet Union as “we win, they lose.” That is where Haley stands on dealing with the Eurasian Axis. On March 20, 2023 she cut loose on both the weak-kneed Biden and the Republican defeatists who would do even worse.
Writing in The Wall Street Journal, Haley said:
“Beijing has set its sights on overtaking the U.S. militarily, economically and culturally. Mr. Xi is in Moscow because supporting Mr. Putin advances his dark vision. …
“Why are many American politicians blind to this? Why don’t they want Ukraine to beat China’s ally? Victory for Kyiv would make the U.S. safer without putting a single American soldier in harm’s way.
“Mr. Biden says the U.S. stands with Ukraine, but he has consistently let Russia seize the initiative. He encouraged the invasion by surrendering in Afghanistan and by saying a “minor incursion” into Ukraine would be OK. He has failed to send Kyiv the support it needs, when it needs it. …
“Mr. Biden’s hemming and hawing is consistent with his history on national security. More surprising is the weakness from some on the right. They say the U.S. shouldn’t care about Ukraine because this war isn’t our fight. Some call it a mere “territorial dispute.” They say we should ignore Ukraine so we can focus on China.
“This has it backward. China loses if Ukraine wins. Nobody knows that better than Mr. Xi. He wants America to shift attention from Ukraine in the short run, because it would give Russia and China an edge in the long run—in Europe, Asia and world-wide. Yet the U.S. can stifle China’s ambitions now by helping Ukraine, and we can do it without sending a blank check or risking American troops….
“We need to stand strong with our friends in Kyiv, not least because their victory over Russia would have effects extending far beyond Ukraine. Messrs. Xi and Putin know it, which is why they’re meeting in Moscow this week. The U.S. needs a leader who knows it too, and does what needs to be done to protect the American people and the freedom we hold dear.”
Not leaving matters with that, Haley expanded her offensive against both Biden and the Putin Republicans by doing a number of interviews on national television in which she put what is at stake in the war before the American public in the plainest terms possible.
For example, here she is on Fox TV March 22. “A win for Russia is a win for China,” she says, debunking those who claim their lack of willingness to stand up to the Eurasian Axis in Ukraine is part of some grand strategy to stop it elsewhere. “It is a critical mistake to view the Russian and Chinese threats separately….This is not the time to get weak in the knees on Russia. We have to finish this. Make no mistake; This is no ‘territorial dispute.’ This is a fight for freedom, and it is one that we have to win. If we don’t win this war in Ukraine, Poland and the Baltics are next. Putin has said that. We are trying to prevent a world war.”
She is a hundred percent on target. The future of the world is at stake. Up till now, those wishing for action commensurate with the threat could only watch this disaster unfold. But Americans now have a choice. If they support global victory for the Eurasian Axis, they should vote for Trump. If they don’t particularly care which side wins, DeSantis is their man. But if they want the West and all it stands for to prevail, they now have a candidate.
Give ‘em hell, Haley.
Robert Zubrin is an aerospace engineer. His next book, The Case for Nukes: How We Can Beat Global Warming and Create a Free, Open, and Magnificent Future, will be published by Polaris Books April 3.
