It’s hard to figure out what critics of Ukraine really are up to when they complain about events like last week’s visit of President Volodymyr Zelensky to the U.S. Capitol.
Some of the loudest griping comes from Tucker Carlson on the Fox News Channel, who relentlessly ripped into Zelensky after his remarks to a joint session of Congress. Carlson accused Zelensky of trying to shake down the United States for more money in the defense of his country against Russia.
One of Carlson’s complaints is that Washington politicians of both parties like Zelensky and want to help him. Carlson claims they’re more interested in giving money to Ukraine than they are in providing the necessary funding to secure the Mexican border or stopping the lethal importation of drugs like fentanyl.
Comparing these three topics is silly, and Carlson has to know it. The United States government clearly has the size and the means to address Ukraine, drugs and illegal immigration at the same time.
The fact that Congress and the Biden administration have given a lot of money to Ukraine’s defense in the past 10 months has nothing to do with its ability to allocate funds and resources to the other issues. (Though it’s clear there’s a lack of willingness to address forcefully border security and drugs.)
The United States has given billions of dollars worth of arms and other equipment to Zelensky’s country, and by any measurement, this is money well spent. The Ukrainian military, against all expectations, has stood up to Russia and defended its homeland. The people of Ukraine and its leaders, having lived as part of Russia for decades, want no more of a society run by a central-planning, all-controlling, no-dissent-allowed government. But somehow Carlson and his peers find fault with that.
Russian leader Vladimir Putin and his military show their true evil colors time and time again. Putin’s most recent strategy is to destroy the power grid of Ukraine so that its people will suffer as winter sets in. His soldiers think nothing of killing innocent civilians as a substitute to taking the fight to their armed foes. It is beyond bizarre that some Americans think Russia is the mistreated victim in this war, when it was Putin who ordered the invasion of Ukraine, not the other way around.
There’s no way to know how this latest European horror show will play out. But so far, we do know that the Ukrainians are defending their territory. No other nation has committed troops to assist. Hopefully it stays that way.
Whatever the civilized world may think of Russia’s immoral actions, it is wise to keep in mind the old warning not to shake a stick at a bear that has nuclear weapons aimed at you.
The United States has indeed given Ukraine a lot of defensive help. But these contributions are worth every penny.
As Zelensky told Congress, it is a good investment. And it is a far better course of action than sending American troops to Ukraine.
— Jack Ryan, McComb Enterprise-Journal
