Letter To The Editor: The Ugly American

Trump's recent temper tantrum in the Oval Office was reminiscent of Khruschev's pounding he U.N. dais screaming "We will bury you". Calling Zelensky a corrupt dictator who invaded Russia must have pleased the Fox 5 panel members who used to entertain by asking stupid questions to stupid people.

 

Whatever happened to human rights? Defending democracy? Should we finance a proxy war that would have broken Russia financially and politically and kept it caged where it has been since 1994? Does Trump know what will happen to the women of Ukraine when Russian troops roll into Kyiv based upon the history of Russian occupation. Fear of this occupation will make this war one of painful attrition.

 

Ukraine is as much a part of Russia as Mexico is a part of the U.S. Russia occupied the Baltic states for 50 years with a brutality that still haunts a 3rd generation. They fear Russia and the legacy Russian troops left.

 

If we have no compassion for Ukrainians and the blood they have shed defending the liberties they have enjoyed for a generation, no respect for Zelensky and the miracle he led in a defense of Kyiv which Russian oligarchs predicted would last a matter of weeks, then we should forsake our role as defender of "human rights" and invite Russia to crush Ukraine freedom fighters, and occupy the Baltics, and the Balkans. Hopefully Russian oppression will end there. Unfortunate no dictatorship has been so emboldened as the Russians since Neville Chamberlain brought peace with honor from Hitler.

 

If the blood shed for protecting the precious right of liberty by Ukrainians can only be weighed in terms of dollars and cents, can support of Netanyahu be next? We have truly lost our way and the unintended consequences of straying from the moral compass our founders embodied in the Declaration of Independence will bring a world order of chaos and wars unimagined.

 

Trump has exacted his pound of political flesh. We should not expect God's blessings.

 

Joe Exum