COMMENT: Marty,
Zelinsky has tried to portray himself as a military leader, cloaked in the symbolism of a military strongman. Gaddafi, Hussein, Stalin, and even Hitler come to mind. All were seen as ardent nationalists. Zelinsky did this to attract enormous weapons and capital to this country, ensuring that his face becomes the symbol of the military leader.
In truth, Zelinsky is a figurehead whose survival depends on outside assistance. Ukraine continues to bleed out citizens, while its military gets eviscerated. Even with the weapons provided by the West, Ukraine’s military was never of the caliber of Russia’s. A Heroic figure he is not.
The West probably bet the sanctions and outside pressures would force Putin to withdraw. No one counted on Putin to stand his ground. Putin’s determination to crush Zelinsky means his tenure is linked with his war record and battlefield performance. Panic is now setting in. Zelinsky is as much a puppet regime as we saw in South Vietnam. It lacks broad support and like the one in Saigon, Kiev will collapse sooner or later from outside pressure.
Once collapse happens, military defeat means political defeat. Therefore, the West is panicked to raise the stakes and step in to bolster a puppet regime. The US entered Vietnam slowly, then suddenly. It now appears NATO is following this same process, first indirectly, now perhaps directly. They have turned Ukraine’s future into some kind of existential life-or-death battle. For NATO, that is certainly the case. Having squandered untold billions, their military readiness is now on the line.
Kennedy tried to block the expansion of the US presence in Vietnam and was assassinated for it. Johnson enthusiastically took over and then realized his generals, Westmoreland to be precise, had no real plan. Johnson lost by blindly following the military. Trump tried to keep the US out of wars and was ousted by a fraudulent election. Biden enthusiastically took over echoing Johnson. As with Vietnam, an unpopular regime with no support, Ukraine is likely even more corrupt and ripe for destruction. Pumping in billions won’t stop the eventual collapse. Zelinsky’s failures on the battlefield are synonymous with Vietnam.
The US congress has disgraced itself. As with Vietnam, there was no declaration of war. It became incremental and it took nearly 15 years to extricate ourselves from this mess. The blank check spending then is now in overdrive in Ukraine. That country will disappear but unlike Vietnam, from which we would eventually retreat, the US now is so deep inside Ukraine. Retreat would mean the collapse of Nato and the withdrawal of the US.
Who today is the Republican version of Nixon who will get us out of this mess? And who is the next Henry Kissinger to negotiate out of this modern disgrace? No, this is not like Vietnam. This is much worse. We have no leadership, just as is now evident with the puppet in Kiev. We, too, have a puppet in Washington. So two puppets trying to pretend they have each other’s backs ensures that what unfolds has no coda ending like Vietnam. Rather, it looks more like some roll of dice all-or-nothing gamble, echoing the epic debacle of Hitler’s Germany. It’s really the end of the US hegemony now in play.
MS
REPLY: We have gone down the same exact path as Athens following the Defeat of the Persian Invasion. They became arrogant and compelled other Greek city-states to pay tribute to them for protection against another possible Persian invasion which never came. The various city-states began to rebel and a coalition was formed led by Sparta ushering in the Peloponnesian War. In the end, Athens lost its status as the financial capital of the known world. Sparta weakened Athens and then Macedonia conquered taking that title of the Financial Capital of the world.
The United States has lost every war contrived by the Neocons ever since World War II. There have been no overwhelming victories. Even the Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of JPMorgan Chase & Co, Jamie Dimon, has come out and said that his top concerns include Ukraine and China. Only a fool does not look at the geopolitical events unfolding. The Biden administration is firmly in the hands of the Neocons. God help us!
