Sen. Tim Kaine

by Kerry Dougherty

Tim Kaine jumped the shark.

Get a load of the nonsense this United States Senator – from VIRGINIA – Tweeted on Tuesday:

President Zelenskyy spoke to the Senate today about the critical role of American support for Ukrainian democracy. He stood beneath a portrait of George Washington, who helped birth an America free from domination by a great power. A moving moment.

— Tim Kaine (@timkaine) December 12, 2023

Seriously, senator?

No member of Congress should ever compare America’s first president with this little corruptocrat.

This is the problem when Virginians vote for a Kansan to represent them in Washington. He missed fourth grade Virginia history and apparently they didn’t teach American history in the schools he attended either.

If they had, the senator would know that Washington was a humble man who fervently believed in freedom and the rights of man. He was an educated, measured leader who stepped down after two terms in office and refused to allow himself to be set up as anything more than a man of the people.

In his farewell address, Washington warned against foreign entanglements.

Presidents have been ignoring Washington’s admonitions for decades, unfortunately.

By contrast, the Ukrainian president is a former comic who has suspended elections, and will likely try to remain in office for life. He’s cracked down on opposition parties. Wait, what am I saying? He made membership in some opposition parties illegal. He’s flying around the world shaking his tin cup and slurping up billions from other countries, especially the U.S.. And that money? There’s little accounting for where it goes.

This is the man Tim Kaine compares to a towering figure like Washington? Zelenskyy is no Washington. Shoot, he’s not even Millard Fillmore.

Still, Biden threw another $200 million at Zelenskyy on Tuesday and yapped some more about how important it was to approve another massive aid package for Ukraine.

Biden knows what has to happen to get that package approved: he has to also agree to close OUR border.

Biden won’t do that.

Odd, isn’t it? Biden, Kaine and most Democrats are desperate to protect Ukraine’s border, but don’t give a rat’s rear-end about ours. In fact, our Southern border has descended into out-of-control chaos. On December 5th a shameful one-day record was set: 12,000 illegals were caught streaming into the U.S. with false claims of asylum.

Lord knows how many got-aways made it.

We’ve lost control of our country’s border, yet Democrats in Congress are digging in their heels and refusing to tie funds for our security to Ukraine’s.

What will it take to wake up Kaine and company to the danger of an open border? Do they need to experience a terrorist attack carried out by illegals? Let’s hope not. But it’s just a matter of time.

Sadly, Kaine’s hero didn’t get everything he came for. He has to go back to his undemocratic country with nothing to show from his international beg-a-thon besides a measly couple hundred million.

Maybe next time he’ll wear breeches and a powdered wig.

Republished with permission from Kerry: Unemployed and Unedited. 


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68 responses to “Sorry, Senator. Zalenskyy is No George Washington”

  1. Herb Sipe Avatar

    Washington said to avoid permanent foreign alliances. He advocated for temporary ones. Your misquotation is common but wrong. See: https://history.state.gov/milestones/1784-1800/washington-farewell

    1. Nancy Naive Avatar
      Nancy Naive

      And not her first error either.

    2. George Washington said a lot of things in his farewell address. Including, as you alluded to:

      Taking care always to keep ourselves by suitable establishments on a respectable defensive posture, we may safely trust to temporary alliances for extraordinary emergencies.

      However, I interpret his advice as allowing for temporary foreign entanglements rather than advocating for them. There is a difference.

      He also said:

      The great rule of conduct for us in regard to foreign nations is, in extending our commercial relations to have with them as little political connection as possible. So far as we have already formed engagements let them be fulfilled with perfect good faith. Here let us stop.

      Don’t get me wrong, I consider the Russia/Ukraine situation an extraordinary emergency. At this time I think we should maintain a temporary alliance with Ukraine and provide all the assistance we can to them, without digging ourselves deeper into debt. Taking on ever more debt hinders our ability to maintain the suitable establishments which keep us on a respectable defensive posture.

      1. Eric the half a troll Avatar
        Eric the half a troll

        Is it wise to worship any President of the US as somehow all knowing and is it wise to not recognize that the world and our position in it is very different than it was at our inception?

        1. I do not worship anyone.

          And wise advice is timeless.

          1. Eric the half a troll Avatar
            Eric the half a troll

            Well millions of unnecessary casualties from two world wars may disagree with you.

          2. How do you know the two world wars would have occurred if the United States had consistently followed Mr. Washington’s advice regarding forming only temporary alliances and staying politically disconnected from other countries?

          3. Eric the half a troll Avatar
            Eric the half a troll

            Because both started during periods of US isolationism. Millions died unnecessarily in the trenches of WWI because we refused to enter the war. Also, many millions of soldiers and Jews ultimately died who did not have to had we acted decisively when Germany invaded Czechoslovakia or even Poland instead we thought it best to follow Mr. Washington’s advice.

  2. DJRippert Avatar

    Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, … the list goes on.

    Our 60 year track record of success in armed conflict is not very good.

    Our politicians always want to go halfway. We should have either given Ukraine all the conventional weapons they wanted or stayed out. Another example of creeping incrementalism from the deep state. Why didn’t we arm Ukraine when the Russians first invaded in 2014? Where were Obama and Biden then? Once again, we don’t have a plan to win this war. And mark my words – right now, the Russians are winning. Predictably, this has bogged down into a war of attrition. In a war of attrition, the larger force wins. Ask the Confederacy.

    I’ve been to Ukraine, I’ve worked in Ukraine. It is horribly corrupt. Zelenskyy is not part of that corruption but it’s very debatable whether he has the corruption under control. When this is over (unless there is a massive coverup in DC) Americans will be shocked by the level of corruption that is happening in Ukraine with regard to our aid. Not Zelenskyy’s fault but a fact.

    Another budget buster. If we want to arm Ukraine, we should either raise taxes or cut spending to make that arming budget neutral. Of course, the clowns in DC won’t do either. Another free lunch to be paid for by our children and grandchildren.

    The problems in Ukraine are not Zelenskyy’s fault. Zelenskyy didn’t imply he was the reincarnation of George Washington, Tim Kaine did that.

    1. Getting involved in a war of choice (from the POV of the U.S.) suffers the same issue as the pandemic response, the debt and deficit policy, K-12 education, environmental issues. All of those issues are chronic issues that will take more than 90 days to resolve. And was clearly shown during the pandemic, most politicians are not capable of dealing with any issue that last more than 90 days. After 90 days those politicians start throwing hissy fits, act like immature teenagers, and refuse to deal with the issue.

    2. James Wyatt Whitehead Avatar
      James Wyatt Whitehead

      Zelensky. He has the same problem as Robert E. Lee. George Washington without the reward. Ukraine is going to lose this one. Even if Uncle Austin sends in our men and women to fight.

      1. Eric the half a troll Avatar
        Eric the half a troll

        “A declassified U.S. intelligence report assessed that the Ukraine war has cost Russia 315,000 dead and injured troops, or nearly 90% of the personnel it had when the conflict began…”

        https://www.reuters.com/world/us-intelligence-assesses-ukraine-war-has-cost-russia-315000-casualties-source-2023-12-12/

        1. Those are staggering losses.

          Are there any reliable estimates on Ukraine’s total troop casualties?

          1. Eric the half a troll Avatar
            Eric the half a troll

            Same article says 70,000

          2. DJRippert Avatar

            Well, the Ukrainians are apparently now snatching their own citizens for conscription purposes:

            https://dnyuz.com/2023/12/15/people-snatchers-ukraines-recruiters-use-harsh-tactics-to-fill-ranks/

        2. James Wyatt Whitehead Avatar
          James Wyatt Whitehead

          Putin vs Z is like Grant vs Lee in 1864. Research the Overland Campaign of 1864. 3 to 1 casualty rate yet Grant still wins. Yet only a few victories. Why? Endless bodies to sacrifice. Visit any National Cemetery in Virginia to view the body count.

          1. Eric the half a troll Avatar
            Eric the half a troll

            You have a point that Putin has more bodies to sacrifice but don’t forget the saying about fighting the last war. Of course, if we turn our backs on Ukraine they won’t have a snowball’s chance…

    3. Matt Adams Avatar

      Good observations, but Zelenskyy is part of the corruption.

    4. Nancy Naive Avatar
      Nancy Naive

      Deep State? House Majority. Yeah, and in fact the source of Deep State conspiracies.

    5. George Washington also said this in his farewell address:

      As a very important source of strength and security, cherish public credit. One method of preserving it is to use it as sparingly as possible, avoiding occasions of expense by cultivating peace, but remembering also that timely disbursements to prepare for danger frequently prevent much greater disbursements to repel it; avoiding likewise the accumulation of debt, not only by shunning occasions of expense, but by vigorous exertions in time of peace to discharge the debts which unavoidable wars have occasioned, not ungenerously throwing upon posterity the burthen which we ourselves ought to bear….

      We’re not doing so well on that front.

    6. Great points and guidance, Sir.

      1. and, Kaine is a fool not worth his words on paper. Certainly not and never will be a Virginian.

        1. LarrytheG Avatar

          Geeze, Mayor of Richmond also, right?

          once a come-here, always a come-here? 😉

          I’d take Kaine’s votes in Congress ANY DAY over George Allen and similar!

  3. Posted on behalf of Robert R. Kaplan:

    Who died and made Kerry Dougherty Queen? I am no admirer of Tim Kaine, but I deplore Ms. Dougherty’s smart a— comments, both in terms of what Senator Kaine said, which merely drew a parallel between Washington and Zelenskyy in terms of what Washington was, and Zelenskyy is, endeavoring to do, not trying to strike a moral equivalence between the two. I also found her gratuitous, ad hominem attack on President Zelenskyy distasteful at best. In light of last week’s performance, perhaps she has a future as a Saturday Night Live writer.

    Let’s be real, anyone who fails to recognize that Ukraine must WIN this war, and utterly repulse Russia’s “premeditated invasion,” needs to read a copy of Winston Churchill’s While England Slept. As a general proposition, contemporary Americans are shockingly unaware of history. But make no mistake about it: the misguided spirit of the 1930s isolationists like Hiram Johnson, Senator Borah and other America Firsters lives on in people like Ms. Dougherty to say nothing of the senators and Congressmen and women, as well as commentators like Tucker Carlson, who would block Ukrainian aid. Inevitably, isolationist blindness enables the unchecked evil of despots, resulting in the sacrifice, not simply of our treasure, but the priceless lives of our young men and women to secure our liberty when the wheels come off the wagon and America is at stake. It happened in the 1940s, and I fear we are perilously close to having it happen again.

    The real culprit here is the monumental grifter and political hack, who sits in the White House and his enablers who by virtue of their collective, terminal timidity only have dribbled-out lethal aid that has created a stalemate but not enough to enable the incredibly competent Ukrainian military to repulse the invader, win the war and thereby secure the peace.

    While I applaud the rectitude of our GOP senators who are unwilling to de-couple border security from aid to Ukraine and Israel, it is incumbent on them and people like Ms. Daugherty to persuade the American people to apply monumental pressure to the White House and the Democratic senate majority to get all three pieces done and not to leave town for Christmas until it’s done!

    Robert R. Kaplan
    Midlothian, Virginia

    1. LarrytheG Avatar

      Is there a thought that GOP leaders would do more than Biden? Biden has gone as far as the GOP in Congress will let him. Clear proof of that right now!

      1. Nancy Naive Avatar
        Nancy Naive

        Trump would negotiate a surrender and withdrawal of all US troops sometime in the first 4 months of the next Administration.

    2. Dick Hall-Sizemore Avatar
      Dick Hall-Sizemore

      Except for the criticisms of Kaine and Biden, I agree wholeheartedly.

      1. Funding for Ukraine would be on its way, but for Biden’s unwillingness to compromise on the border. His unwillingness to compromise on the border is inexplicable. Even Democrats in “sanctuary cities” are complaining about the border.

        Is Biden totally captive to the ideological hard left? Let’s face it, they will support him over Trump anyway.

        Elections are decided in the middle, and a border compromise would give Biden much needed funding for Ukraine, and a win with moderates who have had enough of the unrestricted flow across the border which is devastating the resources of Democrat cities.

        Is Biden sacrificing Ukraine purely to have something to bash Republicans with? That’s pretty low, even for him.

        And Kaine should be showing some independence, not just spouting the party line. Shame on him.

    3. Nancy Naive Avatar
      Nancy Naive

      FWIW, the Congress shuts down for the holidays. The White House is a 24-7 operation.

      Defunding the CBP is not a security plan.

      Now, get back to work on a piece blaming DE&I for the rise of antisemitism on campus, UVa specifically.

  4. Dick Hall-Sizemore Avatar
    Dick Hall-Sizemore

    George Washington was not president during a war, fighting off an invasion by a much larger country. The possibility of not holding elections is in accord with Ukrainian law which suspends elections during martial law declared after the invasion.

    Let’s look at some of the other claims by Kerry in this post:

    Little accounting for where the aid for Ukraine goes–As a national conservative columnist has pointed out, 90 percent of it stays in the U.S. paying U.S. companies for weapons and other material sent to Ukraine. https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/11/29/ukraine-military-aid-american-economy-boost/

    Comparing what is happening to the Ukranian border to what is happening at the U.S. border–Ukranian border-thousands of heavily armed Russian troops invading, killing and raping as they come. U.S. border–unarmed civilians, mostly women and children seeking asylum, which U.S. law authorizes them to do. Her comparison is ludicrous.

    Seeking false claims of asylum–When was Kerry appointed an immigration judge and how many cases had she heard?

    Zelensky put his life on the line. When the Russians invaded, the U.S offered to help him get out of the country. He refused to leave. He deserves more respect than is shown by Kerry. https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/26/europe/ukraine-zelensky-evacuation-intl/index.html

    1. Virginia Gentleman Avatar
      Virginia Gentleman

      Agree – great response Dick.

    2. DJRippert Avatar

      “George Washington was not president during a war, fighting off an invasion by a much larger country.”

      No, but James Madison was. Did Madison suspend elections and outlaw opposing parties – I actually don’t know.

      ” … 90 percent of it stays in the U.S. paying U.S. companies for weapons and other material sent to Ukraine.”

      Stealing weapons is better than stealing money. Black market weapons sell for more than their price in a legal sale.

      “Comparing what is happening to the Ukranian border to what is happening at the U.S. border …”

      Actually a valid comparison in that we are spending billions to secure Ukraine’s borders while Biden refuses to secure ours. Since Bozo Biden refuses to execute his mandate as President and enforce our immigration laws, the Republicans are quite rightly using the Ukrainian aid as leverage.

      “Zelensky put his life on the line.” He did and does every day. He is a very brave man. He’s not the problem. The problem is his entrenched government (the Kyiv Swamp) is as corrupt as can be imagined. He was not part of that government before being elected. The big question is whether he has control over the government now.

      1. LarrytheG Avatar

        Are you saying that Biden is not enforcing the laws as written?

        My understanding is that the way our asylum law is written, we have no choice but to follow it unless of course you’re someone like Trump who just ignores the laws.

        Congress needs to change the asylum law if they want asylum seekers to be rejected and sent away without a hearing.

        Some Dems are willing to do this especially if the dreamers are given a path to citizenship.

        More than 1/2 of “illegals” are folks who overstay their VISA not folks at the border.

        1. DJRippert Avatar

          “On December 5th a shameful one-day record was set: 12,000 illegals were caught streaming into the U.S. with false claims of asylum.”

          12,000 in a day!

          We are not spending enough or doing enough to secure the border.

          What was wrong with stay in Mexico?

          On the rare moments when Biden displays mental clarity, he shows that’s he a typical sleazy Philadelphia (area) politician. He tried to buy votes with deficit spending when he tried to forgive student loans. He is willfully failing to take adequate measures to enforce the border because he knows there will be yet another “asylum” for those who crossed illegally and he expects most of those will be voting Democrat.

          Beyond being observably senile, the man is a disgrace.

          1. LarrytheG Avatar

            I don’t disagree with the sentiment of staying in Mexico but is Biden doing all he can
            do within the current law and Congress needs to act.

            I don’t think Biden is senile…..at all… if you listen to what he is saying.. and I have
            confidence in the people around him like his Secretary of State … I’d have zero
            confidence in a second Trump administration… it would be a disaster for America.

          2. Dick Hall-Sizemore Avatar
            Dick Hall-Sizemore

            If 12,000 were caught, it seems to me that the administration is doing pretty well enforcing the law.

            The administration had put in place a rule limiting eligibility for asylum, but a court overturned it. Until then, the number of crossings fell. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/immigration/judge-rules-biden-immigration-policy-calling-invalid-rcna96272

          3. Matt Adams Avatar

            “If 12,000 were caught, it seems to me that the administration is doing pretty well enforcing the law.”

            You’re only measuring what is being caught and what is being caught those wishing to get caught.

            You’re applying your SOP of Argument from Ignorance.

          4. Eric the half a troll Avatar
            Eric the half a troll

            “If 12,000 were caught, it seems to me that the administration is doing pretty well enforcing the law.”

            Yep, the “logic” are here is astounding sometimes…

          5. Eric the half a troll Avatar
            Eric the half a troll

            “12,000 in a day!… We are not spending enough or doing enough to secure the border.”

            No, we are not allowing enough migrants to enter our country through legitimate border crossings. We have capped asylum seekers at 1450 per day. Heck, we processed up to 5000 a day at Ellis Island in the days before computers. They are here to seek legal asylum and most will do it legally. We should let them. They will only improve our country as has been proven time and again.

          6. Eric the half a troll Avatar
            Eric the half a troll

            “12,000 in a day!… We are not spending enough or doing enough to secure the border.”

            No, we are not allowing enough migrants to enter our country through legitimate border crossings. We have capped asylum seekers at 1450 per day. Heck, we processed up to 5000 a day at Ellis Island in the days before computers. They are here to seek legal asylum and most will do it legally. We should let them. They will only improve our country as has been proven time and again.

    3. Matt Adams Avatar

      No, Washington was the Commander and Chief of a smaller fighting force holding off an invading Army.

      Zalenskyy is also not a “President” he’s a puppet running around looking for handouts to enrich himself. He’s even been called out by people on the ground fighting.

      If you want to be a war hawk, I believe Dulles fly’s direct, you can go fight.

      https://www.newsweek.com/ukraine-official-accuses-zelensky-lying-1849427

    4. Nancy Naive Avatar
      Nancy Naive

      Immigration judge?

      Apparently she is a refugee from journalism, however. Or, is it an exile?

    5. walter smith Avatar
      walter smith

      Let’s get real about the border. If you do not have a border, you do not have a country.
      8 million illegals, intentionally admitted, by the corrupt Biden (Obama) regime.
      Fentanyl. Annual costs of nearly $500 billion admitted. Cheerleader raped and killed in Texas? Oh, right, a “migrant.” NGOs helping people break the law. International rules for asylum? You ask for it in the first country you hit. You don’t travel through Central America and get escorted over and then flown to cities all over the US. It’s replacement theory, and anybody with a brain knows it. Meanwhile, how about the “migrants” who go through the Darien Gap – raped, robbed, actually controlled by the cartels. How many are fighting age men? How many are terrorists? Ridiculous.
      How about caring for our already existing citizens? How many of the “marginalized” descendants of slaves in the Hellhole Dem cities get treated 1/10th as well as the illegal invaders? Why not give our citizens real schools? Clean up the crime?
      Oh…boohoo…the poor civilians of Gaza, who support genocide by about 75%….waaaah – Israel is mean.
      When you care about Americans as much as you care for people in far away places, maybe I’ll believe your crocodile tears. Hypocrites.

    6. Cynthia  Phillips Avatar
      Cynthia Phillips

      If it’s mostly women and children coming across, why do we see very few of them? Most of the pictures we see are fit able men in their 20s-30s.

      1. You are correct. In 2021, more than 65% of individuals encountered by Border Patrol attempting to cross our border were male.

        And while that is a lower percentage than in previous years, it is clearly not, as claimed by Mr. Hall-Sizemore, “mostly women and children” who are trying to cross the border.

        https://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/2022-09/2022_0818_plcy_southwest_border_enforcement_report_fy_2021.pdf

        (See Table 6)

  5. James Wyatt Whitehead Avatar
    James Wyatt Whitehead

    Fun fact. Tim can play the harmonica. He is actually pretty good.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XbE6-KjnRlU

    1. You stop that!

      I’ve had a low opinion of the man for decades, and I don’t need anyone giving me a reason to like him now…

      😉

      1. James Wyatt Whitehead Avatar
        James Wyatt Whitehead

        I hear you Mr. Wayne. Not a fan either. He does seem like a likable guy though. Our best hope is that he gets stuck in another 24 hour snow storm on I-95 and misses and few floor votes.

        1. Pretty good.

          It also answers the question: How many hipsters does it take to play a guitar?

          Not that anyone asked, of course.

      2. James Wyatt Whitehead Avatar
        James Wyatt Whitehead

        I hear you Mr. Wayne. Not a fan either. He does seem like a likable guy though. Our best hope is that he gets stuck in another 24 hour snow storm on I-95 and misses and few floor votes.

        1. Dick Hall-Sizemore Avatar
          Dick Hall-Sizemore

          Having attended budget meetings with him, I affirm that he is a likable guy. Also, he was a governor who put in the work. Of all the governors I served under at DPB, Kaine was the only one who asked us for “homework”. He would ask us for a list of decisions that we needed on fairly routine items and the next day we would get the list marked up with him comments.

          1. James Wyatt Whitehead Avatar
            James Wyatt Whitehead

            Kaine is well known for being a hands on policy wonk. Details and memos make his day. President James Buchanan was very much the same.

          2. Eric the half a troll Avatar
            Eric the half a troll

            He and his office really stepped in and helped my sister-in-law wade through the bureaucracy when she unexpectedly lost her husband. True life saver type of assistance. That type of hand’s on work for his constituents is what he is known for and is why he will skate through reelection.

        2. He does seem like a likable guy though.

          He does, indeed.

    2. LarrytheG Avatar

      He canoes also! my kind of folk!

    3. Many a great villain has demonstrated mastery of the harmonica upon the stage of the crossbar hotel. Such a talent should serve him well there.

  6. Stephen Haner Avatar
    Stephen Haner

    The same isolationist, head-in-the-sand claptrap dominated American politics – especially Republican politics — right up until the radio broadcasts woke up the morons on Dec. 7 1941. I’m sure plenty then believed the Brits and French and Chinese were also corrupt and what was going on in Europe or Asia was none of our concern and not worth spending our treasure. Kerry reflects a long, shameful, ignorant tradition. Others here, too, it seems.

    Ukraine has humiliated Putin in the world’s eyes and is killing more Russians to this day. We should continue to arm them. If they were not fighting for themselves, I’d feel differently, but clearly they are putting up a magnificent defense. I guess I’m not only a RINO to some but also now a neo-con, but I suspect President Reagan would be backing Ukraine. He might even have made the (yes, strained) comparison to GW.

    1. Eric the half a troll Avatar
      Eric the half a troll

      “The same isolationist, head-in-the-sand claptrap dominated American politics – especially Republican politics — right up until the radio broadcasts woke up the morons on Dec. 7 1941.”

      At least by that time we were supplying arms to the Allies. These lot are against even that.

    1. Stephen Haner Avatar
      Stephen Haner

      Yep. Kerry and friends are embarrassing.

  7. The Senate, turning minds into mush for nearly 250 years. Poor Timmy, he was a nice enough guy.

    We have announced a 3 star and staff will hang out in Kiev, an active war zone, to run the Ukrainian military. Apparently we now believe that Ukraine’s failure is due to lack of leadership, all evidence to the contrary.

    What will our response be when they are visited by Mr Kinzhal? Our self promoted wondrous Patriot AD system is ineffective against that, nor will a portrait of George Washington protect them. Will that cause us to escalate to direct war with Russia?

    What could go wrong?

    1. Matt Adams Avatar

      The NeoCons/NeoLibs (MIC) are running the show. If one wants to see what our Government will be doing next, just check Unusual Whales and see what’s trading.

      1. The Brookings article reads like propaganda. Turner’s article is more interesting. Tks for posting the links.

        Ukraine’s AD claims have habitually been greatly exaggerated. To our discredit we have chronically taken them at face value.

        Although highly touted, the Patriot does not have a stellar history, but it is immensely profitable.

        My point was that by putting flag officers and staff in an active combat zone, which Kiev is, it creates the opportunity for the deaths of American service personnel. That could have profound unintended consequences. Sorry my example of weapon distracted from that.

        What will our response be if a 3 star general and staff are hit by a Russian weapon, Kinzhal, other missile, drone, bomb or debris from Ukrainian AD? Do we shrug and say, oh well, just the fortunes of war and promotion slots for others? Or are we outraged at the Russians and escalate from there? With the neocons still firmly in the drivers seat I fear the latter response.

        Seems like the path we trod in Viet Nam. That turned out well. Plus, the domino theories rolled out recently have no more validity now than they did back then.

        It also smells like a reelection campaign theme, a valiant, resolute, war time President standing firmly for democracy and against the evil, godless, MAGA commies avenging the loss of our brave, selfless, patriotic, deceased servicemen and Corn Pop. All framed by the flag, mom and apple pie ice cream cones.

        Something to consider is that there is no one in US service today who has ever faced a peer adversary in combat. We have no experience that would give us standing to direct others in such a conflict. The Ukrainians have acquired that experience at horrific cost.

        Sending Ukrainians into combat with the Russians this summer using NATO combined arms and tactics when Ukraine lacked air superiority was a predictable debacle. It went nowhere and killed 10s of thousands of Ukrainian soldiers.

        The Ukrainian military may rightfully be less than whelmed at having American armchair Napoleons looking over their shoulders in Kiev telling them what to do. It smells like we have made them an offer they cannot refuse. It is not likely to work out very well for us either.

  8. DJRippert Avatar

    The Powell Doctrine should be applied:

    1. Is the goal clear, vital to national security and is it achievable?

    2. Do the American people support military intervention?

    3. Is there a plausible and credible exit strategy to avoid perpetual war?

    Answers regarding Ukraine:

    1.

    Clear goal – yes.
    Vital to national security – no.
    Achievable goal – no.

    2.

    Mixed, though slightly “yes”.
    https://news.gallup.com/poll/513680/american-views-ukraine-war-charts.aspx

    3.

    No.

    1. LarrytheG Avatar

      Can other countries adjacent to Russia fall to Russia if we abandon Europe and NATO?

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