Not many want to send troops to Ukraine, and we can blame this on the left. For decades, leftists have opposed every war we were involved in. When Saddam Hussein attacked Kuwait (kind of like the way Putin has attacked Ukraine), the left was all aflame, not at Saddam Hussein’s action, but at our likely (and in the event, actual) reaction. Starting with Vietnam, they have generated a huge fuss about our sending troops abroad to help people who wanted help, and while they couldn’t stop us from going over there, they could stop us from winning such wars by limiting our “rules of engagement.”
Eventually, even people on the right decided it was pointless to send troops over to fight wars we aren’t allowed to win. And so here we are, with very few interested in helping out Ukraine by sending troops.
There is also the fact that leftists hate the people who are infused with what they call “toxic masculinity,” and yet now they expect such deplorables to go over there and die for them so that they get to feel good. (And look at the comments here.) There is, of course, nothing stopping the elites from going over there right now and fighting, though I’ve heard rumors that those who have done so regret it or else are already dead.
If I were Ukrainian, I would be pretty angry at our leftists.
I disagree, however. Back in the Cold War, the USA didn't sent troops to Hungary or Czechoslovakia when they were invaded by the Soviet Union. It is not a small thing to confront a nuclear power.
Posted by: Maya M | 03/20/2022 at 12:31 PM
That is true, but back then there were plenty of Americans who wanted to send troops over there. Today, they generally don't even want to.
Posted by: John Pepple | 03/20/2022 at 01:32 PM
If we look at the political realities of the various times we can see at least the semblance of reasoning, and it wasn't a left versus right thing. Both Republicans and Democrats were concerned with the increasing sphere of Communist influence. Truman convinced the UN to stop the Communists in Korea, Eisenhower was elected to end it.
Eisenhower approved of the direct overflights of the USSR until they proved they could actually shoot down our aircraft. He also approved a counter-revolution for Cuba, which Kennedy killed by not fully supporting the Bay of Pigs.
It was Kennedy who blockaded Cuba when the Soviets attempted to place IRBMs on the island. It was also Kennedy who created Special Forces designed to go to countries and either engage in unconventional warfare (fight to overthrow), or counter-insurgency (help defend the existing gov). That began our long engagement in Vietnam when the Communist-backed Ho Chi Minh began his push for the unification of the two halves (established much as the Korean line of separation was).
None of our leaders were enthusiastic about direct confrontation with Russia due to the risk of nuclear war. We did not get directly involved when Warsaw pact countries began to rebel but were happy to support surrogate wars like Isreal vs. Syria, Jordan, and Egypt.
As recently as 2001 we see a unified willingness to overthrow a government we viewed as supporting a direct threat to the US. It took us 20 years to extract ourselves, and in our own incompetence show the world we aren't as powerful as we pretend to be.
Posted by: John T. | 03/21/2022 at 05:17 AM