Russia Invades Ukraine and What We Should Have Done About It
Russia Invades Ukraine and What We Should Have Done About It
The modern history of the United States has been rocked by military failures. As the political system shifts toward more government control, more power, and more social spending; the overall concentration on real world issues has been missed. Especially in these times, American leadership has been weakened by a lack of an idea of what to actually do to prevent destabilization in the world.
When Afghanistan fell to the Taliban, a message was shown to the world: the United States was not back, but was now a receding military might. There are no excuses to explain what happened in August of 2021. From it being Trump's fault, to "we had no indication" to "it was going to happen anyway" the Biden Administration explained away the Afghanistan failure anyway they could. But in the end, it was the Administration’s fault for the fall of the Afghanistan government and instead of making things better, they only made things worse. From letting the Taliban form a perimeter around the airport used to evacuate civilians and giving them the personal information of evacuees, to leaving behind hundreds of billions of dollars of U.S defense equipment: the Administration failed at all the critical portions of our mission in Afghanistan. Seeing the weakness projected by Biden's weak and lazy exit from Afghanistan: he actually created a new monster; the Ukraine invasion...
It all started on February 21st, 2022, when Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that two separatist regions of Ukraine aligned with Russia would be forming their own sovereign states. The next two days featured shelling and rising tensions along Ukraine's bordering government territory. Russia decided to send in "peacekeeping" forces into the breakaway regions and the tensions began to rise as Russian separatists tried to pressure the Ukraine government into fighting back, thus giving Putin the excuse to pursue a full invasion.
The invasion of Ukraine actually has been a process building up until now. It all began when a Ukrainian President was found to actually be a puppet of the Russian Federation. When the people learned about it, the President began to break up protests across the country. The corruption was exposed and the people began to revolt against the government until the President was finally removed from office. When Russia saw the resilience of the Ukrainian people and how they uninstalled his puppet regime, he was angered. In response, Russia carved off a portion of Ukraine: Crimea, which would later be used to launch a full-scale invasion on Ukraine. After Russia annexed Crimea in 2014, tensions between Ukraine and Russia began to escalate as a proxy war soon formed but the tensions never rose to a full war. When Crimea was being invaded, President Barrack Hussein Obama and then Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. were in office. Under the Obama Administration, the U.S did not sanction Russia as they could have and instead opted for a weaker opposition to Russia so they could try to do a reset. That reset lead to the Russian reset button, a cheap plastic button that was supposed to magically reset relations between the United States and Russia. However, as shown by the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, that reset did nothing to stop Russia from fulfilling its true plan all along: make Ukraine a Russian satellite.
In November of 2021, the media began to pick up on satellite images that showed Russia forming 100,000 forces along Ukraine's border. Additionally, Russia and Belarus (a Russian satellite) began to pursue "training" operations. However, in this time, the Biden Administration was not actively discussing the possibility of a Ukraine invasion. The story picked up more traction in January of 2022, when the number of forces rose to over 150,000 and Russia had built medical facilities and stored up blood and plasma. At this, the alarm bells rang in the State Department and the Pentagon and White House officials immediately scrambled to get on top of the issue. President Biden took his second full-length formal press conference and answered questions about Ukraine, giving a response about a "minor-incursion." In the weeks to come, Biden began to talk hard about sanctions on Russia if it invaded Ukraine. All the while, NATO and UN were all discussing what to do without any intention of actually doing anything. Knowing darn well Europe's power grids practically run on Russian oil, the world would not come to any resolution on sanctioning Russia’s ability to sell oil. Instead, they talked a big game, but in the end, the sanctions enforced were not as effective as advertised.
To say there was nothing the world could do to stop Russia from invading Ukraine is a flimsy excuse for the actions it took. For months, the U.S had intelligence that Russia was amassing along Ukraine's border, and in that time Biden could have sent 20,000 U.S troops to secure Ukraine and begin talks with NATO allies about adding Ukraine into the alliance. But in and of itself, NATO is not effective. Instead of wasting time to wonder if Ukraine would be added to NATO, the U.S should have sent 20,000 troops into Ukraine months before Russia even amassed its 80,000th troop. This would have told the Russians that if they invaded Ukraine, they'd be initiating a proxy war with the United States. This in turn, would leave Putin no choice but to return home and devise some other plan. Germany could have also sent troops into Ukraine a long time before the amassing of significant troops. This approach should have been taken regardless of NATO laws and international treaties. If Russia was going to break international laws to invade a country, we should have violated international laws to defend it.
On February 24th, 2022, Vladimir Putin announced that there would be a "special mission" to "demilitarize" and "de-Nazify" Ukraine. The war began and Russia entered into Ukraine through Belarus, Crimea, and 2 other regions, from land, air, and sea. Russia performed various air bombings to take out communication capabilities and attacked military installations. The Ukrainians gained some early victories and shot down many Russian aircraft, even 2 ballistic missiles coming in from Belarus. The Ukrainians displayed an active and heroic stance against a far more powerful military and was able to suffer the least amount of causalities. However, Russia came into Ukraine from many angles and it is very hard for Ukraine to stop them from coming in from them all. As it is, Russia is trying to enter Kyiv, and have had some successes, but Ukraine is keeping them back and continuing the fight. The Ukrainians are fighting all along their country. Russia is attacking them from every sector of their country and the brave men and women of their military, their volunteers, and citizens taking arms are defending their God-given country from Russia. Volodymyr Zelenskyy decided to stay in the Capital with his people and is calling for NATO and the world to help defend Ukraine. However, the world community has given him nothing but crickets, and false promises. Ukraine is on their own as the world's nation’s act like they are standing with them. Just because you make a speech saying you’re standing with the Ukrainian people, doesn't mean you’re actually fighting for them. President Biden needs to sanction Russian oil and push the full flank of sanctions on Russia. All of this will not stop him, but we must stop the continuing outdated payments to a government that can't be accounted for. Although Ukraine is fighting back with all they have, it won't be enough. Though I believe they can win a ground war, it's their air-defense that is lacking. Even though they are destroying many Russian aircraft, Putin could still send a large barrage of air units to bomb Ukraine. In the end, Ukraine will likely fall to Russia, but that would just be the government, the people would still be continuing a "shadow government" that would continue to defy Russia's attempts to control Ukraine and it is my strong opinion that if Russia were to set up a new puppet government that the people of Ukraine would likely overturn it as they did in 2014. No matter what Putin does, how many people the war kills, or how much the Ukrainian people lose in this war, the Ukrainian people will still keep fighting for their God-given country and are fully justified in their resilience towards Russia.
As the fight wages on, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zellensky has asked countries around the world, including NATO allies and European Union nations to help defend Ukraine. He has said that the world is watching at a distance and he only gets silence on his questions whether Ukraine will be added as a NATO country. The world fears Russia and thinks that this situation will not come upon them one day. Putin is more emboldened than ever to invade countries and has even sent a clear message to the world that if anyone interferes with his military operations in Ukraine that they would be met with severe punishment never before unleashed by Russia in history. This threat has been heard from all over the world and China is more aligned with Russia as it sees it can use them for their purposes. If we do not act to stop China and Russia from forming an alliance, they will form together to become a check on NATO powers. Thus, being able to defy sanctions, and possibly attack a NATO country.
In the end, it is the United States fault for enabling Putin to attack Ukraine. Biden has allowed Russia to continue selling oil to world markets, despite his promise to impose severe sanctions; he has also disabled America's energy independence by shutting down Keystone XL pipeline and banning oil drilling on Federally leased lands. Biden has been to blame for not working to put a check on the Russian oil output to Europe and other regions and has only continued the problem. The United States also buys most of its products from China and branches out its manufacturing there. Because of our dependence on China, they now control almost 15% of the world economy and make trillions of dollars every year. We may not know it, but we are essentially funding Russia through China. How? Because when China forms an alliance with Russia, they will act as a sanction haven where they can either (A) sell oil to the world through China (if need be), or (B) sell their oil to China in return for much needed money that would be lost if a full sanctioning of Russia takes place. Essentially the money that China gains will come from the United States, that money will be given to Russia in return for their oil and Russia will spend that money as needed to carry out its military desires and defy the economic pressures put in place by sanctions. China has already indicated that it would be a sanction haven as China has already revoked a sanction on Russian wheat. Europe also is not entirely clean when it comes to its funding of Russia. Much of the oil that Europe uses is from Russia. Thus, Europe, which is trying to sanction Russia, still spends tens of millions of dollars on Russian oil. Thus, add the money up, Russia can fund all its military desires. If we are serious about sanctioning Russia, we need to stop taking in Russian oil by sanctioning its distribution to Europe, Asia, and the rest of the world; stop China from forming an alliance with Russia or, better yet: put in place a full travel and trade ban on China so they cannot sell their products to the United States which is a main cash generator for China.
Ukraine will always be a symbol of patriotism and an example of a people uniting to defend their God-given country and values. Russia wishes to occupy Ukraine, but the people will have none of it. I pray that this war will soon end, hopefully with a Ukraine that is still in-tact and not in Russian control. But regardless of who wins, regardless of whether the government of Ukraine collapses or not; the truth to the matter is: Vladimir Putin will never occupy Ukraine. The people one day will revolt, the puppet regime will collapse, and the Ukrainian people will once again rise! There will always be a shadow government; there will always be the symbol, of patriotism and love for country. I am so proud that most Ukrainians are Christians and am proud to say they are my brothers and sisters from another part of the world. I hope they win their fight, but even if they lose, the point was made: never bow down to the forces of evil against you, no matter how powerful they may be. Always keep up the fight and maybe this time around, you may win! Know that there is a Kingdom other than those found on earth, and that there is a more perfect union than that of government. In time, these wars will be forgotten and the past sins of man shall not be remembered. I call for prayers of forgiveness to Russian President Vladimir Putin, he is a good man and has a good soul, he has been tempted by a lust for power and greed and must not be hated, but we must pray for him. We must also pray for the Russian forces fighting innocent Ukrainians, this is an unjust war but not their own entire fault. May God forgive the Russian forces, may God keep Ukraine safe, and regardless of what happens, may the Ukrainians always keep their faith in Christ that has brought them such victory so far and may God protect our troops.