In President Kennedy- Profile in Power, Richard Reeves summarizes French President Charles de Gaulle’s words to Kennedy from 1961 with this, “The Russians may or may not always be Communists, [de Gaulle] said, but they will always be Russians. Mother Russia will always try to expand to the west and the south; she will always hold back if she is convinced the Western nations will fight.”
Today, France is weak, NATO has no purpose, and the United States lacks a strong, competent commander-in-chief.
And guess what?
Russia moved west and south in their invasion of Ukraine. They waited for France and other European powers to grow weak from focus on combating climate change, they waited for NATO to become bloated and directionless, and they waited for a new American president, one who was too clueless about Russian aggression and too concerned that strength meant being seen as oppressive.
The war between Russia and Ukraine has lagged on longer than most expected. The time for peace talks to end this war is past due.
Russia is certainly the unlawful aggressor in this, but corrupt Ukraine was never the appropriate hill for Americans to die on so I’m glad President Biden has done little if anything. We’ve already sent too much money to Ukraine. It is time for more from France, Great Britain, and Germany. Our efforts thus far have been very generous. The world needs to step-up their action in forcing Russia into peace talks.
Lyndon Johnson once wrote, “After having travelled through Asia, Africa, and Germany, the most important conclusion I have is the fantastic dependence that the Free World places on the United States.”
A powerful America is an effective deterrent to despots around the world, but it is not in our interest to do it all alone. Specifically in this case, a strong France, a narrowly focused NATO, and a strong United States would’ve been enough to stop Russia from invading anywhere.
