On 19 September 2023, Volodymyr Zelensky thanked us at the UN. Here are some reasons we should be thanking him and Ukraine. This is a
brief summary of Tim Snyder’s "10 Reasons to Appreciate Ukraine.” My own interpolations are in parentheses.
1) Improving Security in Europe — (counterintuitive perhaps) but sole bulwark against Russia currently
2) Auditing our Defense Budget - we have learned that 3% of it has been enough to protect Kiev and take back half of what Russia grabbed
3) Improving Security in the Pacific – Teaching China that Taiwan would not be easy pickings
4) Attempting to continue to the feed the world despite Russia’s weaponization of world hunger
5) Standing up to nuclear blackmail (indeed Zelensky in his UN speech warned us that Russia is starting to import nuclear power and or bomb making capabilities everywhere; encouraging and offering assistance to other countries to acquire it)
6) Showing us that Democracy is worth fighting for in this age of declining democracy worldwide
7) Showing us that is Freedom more than a word (about choice of hamburders or freedom fries) — choosing one׳s destiny
8) Demonstrating Courage – moral and physical – to take risks for democracy and freedom
9) Seeking Truth – creativity – culture in the midst of war – not giving up creative cultural endeavors of poetry, fiction, essays, journalism, art and music, even as many of these people have volunteered and been wounded or killed in the war
10) A chance to be on the right side (for a change—unlike Iraq and Chile etc etc)
This scarcely does Tim Snyder׳s substack justice so please listen there. It’s free. It will be a well-spent 16 minutes. Snyder is the author of the pamphlet “On Tyranny” and a professor at Yale School of Law.