April 20^th

Today Pat Buchanan’s column is titled, “Stumbling into war With Russia;” this bit of comforting analysis is from “The National Interest” a journal founded by Irving Kristol (Bill’s dad) and devoted to opinions reflecting the national interest. Well, that’s what they say on their web site.

The flashpoint, according to these savants, is the Ukraine. We are sending troops to train the Ukraine Army; Pat’s people claim the training is to fight the Russians. Putin claims the pro-Russians rebels will not be crushed even if Russian troops must be fully engaged. What nonsense: the Russian advances into Ukraine should be stopped where it is now. The Russian move into Ukraine has focused on the eastern portions of the country; the Crimea for example is over 75 percent ethnic Russian, the eastern Ukraine provinces are somewhat less but still heavily ethnic Russian. If they were given the opportunity of a plebiscite they would probably elect to join Russia. Fighting a war to keep them in the Ukraine would be absurd; fighting to stop Russia from advancing any further isn’t!

President Obama is said to “enjoy attempting to humiliate Putin and includes Russia in his list of current scourges….” Putin regularly sends long range bombers to test the NATO air defenses causing them to scramble fighters to meet the threat. Does replying to these provocations humiliate Putin? Putin is humiliating himself: His message, through his ambassador, to tiny Denmark (pop less than 6 million) is that if “they join a NATO missile defense force they could be targeted with nukes.” Oh my; what difference would that make in an all-out nuclear exchange between Russia and NATO?

At this point with the drop in oil prices and the application of economic sanctions the Russian economy is hardly a comfort to Putin’s kleptocratic allies. While he rules unimpeded, a consequence of his complete control of the press, this situation might not last indefinitely. He might have to do more than ride a horse bare chested and otherwise play the macho boy.

It is also possible that “The National Interest” will have, as part of their next message of gloom, a few suggestions about how to remedy the situations they complain about. I know that asking any such organization to turn from opening Pandora’s Box to dealing with the results…but we can hope.