John McCain is advocating a dangerous game of brinksmanship against Ukraine in his latest op-ed in the Washington Post along with three other Republican senators.
We recently visited Norway, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Moldova. In each country, our allies want a stronger immediate response to Russia’s annexation of Crimea and its ongoing subversion of Ukraine. They also believe, as we do, that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s latest acts of aggression require an enduring strategic response from the United States, Europe and NATO. It should be clear to all that Putin’s Russia has taken a dark turn. There is no resetting this relationship. We cannot return to business as usual.
But it is really interesting to note what John McCain does not talk about. He advocates business as usual with Big Oil, which he is silent about. This is so even though
Foreign Policy recently reported that it was business as usual between Big Oil and Putin and that there were no plans to change these profitable arrangements. If John McCain is serious about hitting Russia where it hurts, then let him support sanctions against Russia which involves Big Oil. But we would be surprised if the Koch Brothers were for any more sanctions against Russia.
McCain and friends advocate more defense spending and for NATO countries to do more of their part. Russia's behavior is a challenge to our progressive principles. Do we continue along the line of cutting defense spending, or do we reverse course like John McCain advocates in light of a newly aggressive Russia? John McCain advocates for supplying more of Europe's energy needs in order to head off the possibility of Russia pulling the plug on gas deliveries. Do we approve Keystone, allow for more fracking, and do more drilling because of a resurgent Russia? Another point John McCain raised was that Putin was winning the war of ideas through RT and other propaganda outlets. That is certainly true. Voice of Russia publishes daily letters from people all over the world. Check out this letter from an American:
Thank you for truth. Like one person said: It is a voice of FRESH AIR and truth is always good. I hate to know I cannot say much but I am so disappointed to see US not even investigating whether someone is trying to start this battle by provoking and telling lies. I hate to be a part of something we are called for it is true. Why do we rush into all this and why do we hurt people? I do not think we have thought this out. Russia is a friend, has a very good President, believes in Sovereignty of a country yet I can see many many pro-Russians live in Ukraine so it must be terrible for them...
Thank you for letting me write you and I sure hope you know I would never want to hurt or be a part of hurting Russia and this is what is happening and we have to put all these troops there and you have not even done anything wrong, yet it’s all over our news that you did! I do not like this! And I cannot say more, except I love you and now I see more than I ever did long ago... TO RUSSIA WITH LOVE! AMEN AND MAY OUR AMERICA BE MORE FOR GODLY WAYS.
But if we wonder why people write letters like this of support to Voice of Russia and other Putin propaganda outlets, it is because of this mentality that John McCain espouses in his conclusion:
Finally, the West must provide far greater diplomatic, economic and military support to Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia and other European countries that aspire to be part of our transatlantic community. We must show all of these countries that, as long as they meet the rightfully high standards for membership, the doors to NATO and the European Union remain open and the fundamental choices about their future foreign policy are for them to make — no one else.
The United States and Europe did not seek, or deserve, this challenge from Putin’s Russia. But we must rise to it all the same. Our shared interests and values depend on our resolve.
The problem is that the American people are sick and tired of the rampant militarism that passes for political discourse these days. Too many of us know someone personally who is suffering greatly from having served in Iraq. And if we wonder why Detroit is collapsing, our roads and bridges are crumbling, our schools are struggling to make ends meet, and poverty is growing, it is just this sort of scaremongering that John McCain is whipping up.
And furthermore, we see the real reason why the right is whipping up hysteria against Russia like they did against Iraq -- the more they can scaremonger, the more they can scare people into supporting stuff like more fracking, more drilling, and more environmental devastation that mortgages our future for a quick fix.
So the answer to the first question I posed is, no, we do not go back on our principles. The American people have spoken -- this conflict in Ukraine is none of our business, and this is not our fight. Bringing Ukraine into NATO would, far from appeasing or cowing Putin, would be like waving a red flag at a bull. Just like John Kennedy when Russia smuggled missiles into Cuba. The answer to my second question -- again, no. We should put wind and solar in every community in America, allow cities to sell solar and wind to electric companies so they could address our infrastructure problems (which are a trillion dollar problem) and comply with EPA regulations, and broaden the tax base without a tax increase. We'll see what kind of a handle on energy independence we can get. Then, we can talk about other alternatives.
John McCain has not learned the lessons from his landslide defeat in 2008, when he campaigned unsuccessfully for perpetual warfare in Iraq and bombing Iran and god knows what other military adventures. We do not need to prop up what is likely a lost cause, given the combustible combination of fascism, nationalism, and no military to back it up on the one hand, and Putin's ruthless nationalism and militarism on the other hand. We should have learned that lesson from Vietnam, where we had no business propping up a South Vietnamese government which was unsustainable.