We don’t do politics here on ExNotes, mostly because we don’t want to lose all our readers. If Gresh expressed his views, we’d lose half of you, and if I expressed my views, we’d lose the other half. That said, what has been happening in the world the over the last week transcends mere politics (von Clausewitz’s definition of war being an extension of politics by other means notwithstanding).
I don’t agree with much of what the current team at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue has been doing for the last year, but I think we are taking the prudent course of action regarding Russia. Not the moral course of action or the course of action President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his nation deserve, but the prudent course. What do you do when a madman has his finger on the nuclear trigger? It’s not a time to call his bluff, and for that, I think what’s happening here on the home front is prudent. But if ever a nation and a leader deserved our intervention, this is it. President Zelenskyy’s response when offered US help to flee Ukraine was eloquent: I need ammunition, not a ride. This, my friends, is a leader. A combat commander. The real deal.
People are comparing Zelenskyy to Churchill. The comparisons are valid, but the more appropriate comparison I think of is General Anthony McAuliffe. When surrounded by the Germans at Bastogne, McAuliffe’s response to their surrender demand was similarly eloquent: Nuts. General George S. Patton said that a man so eloquent deserved to be saved. That is certainly the case for Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the people of Ukraine.
Maybe we are seeing real leadership in Washington. We can only hope. Tightening the screws on the oligarchs and kleptocrats surrounding Putin may well lead to Putin’s demise. I’m guessing that’s the game plan. I hope it happens quickly.