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Russian military troops are poised on the Russia/Ukraine border like vultures awaiting the ring of a dinner bell. Mimicking a playground bully, Vladimir Putin is using them as a form of extortion to have his demands met. He gets what he wants or Ukrain gets desecrated.
Specifically, Putin is butt-hurt over Ukraine hogging all the attention of the EU. In his peculiar way of thinking Ukraine should still belong to Russia. But it doesn’t. And it hasn’t since Aug 24, 1991, when the rebellious child broke its Russian dinner plate and declared independence as its own sovereign nation.
Russia would have preferred to teach Ukraine a hard lesson by letting them dangle out there all alone with no help from anyone. But this was never to be the case. Instead, Ukraine was embraced and congratulated for finally doing the right thing and this swung the gates wide open for cool stuff like financial aid, free trade, and in many ways, its modernization as a newly crowned member of the free world.
Brushing all other matters aside, Putin lost his cool over talks of allowing the EU to adopt Ukraine as one of their own, complete with the full grabbag of goodies that comes with membership. In retaliation, he lined up every duck in his arsenal on their shared border.
To be clear, as the crow flies, Ukraine is located 5,687 miles away from its closest U.S. point of entry. Roughly the size of Texas and consisting mostly of rough terrain and farmland, Ukraine makes a buck or two by meddling in the export business, but its offerings are slim. As allies, the U.S. helps them out.
Ukraine ships 61.4% of its ferrous metals and articles to the U.S. While the figure appears substantial, Ukraine only produces 1.26% of the world’s ferrous metals so that intrinsic amount could easily be made up elsewhere. Here’s where the percentages take a drastic nosedive and keep in mind, these items could be sourced here in the U.S., and probably should be. But that’s Biden’s business.
Ukraine faithfully sends the U.S. 5.7% of its fats and oils from animals and vegetables. We rid them of 4.8% of their ores, slags, and ashes. From the production side of things, the U.S. buys 2.6% of the nuclear reactors and boilers they manufacture, 2.3% of other types of electrical machinery, and 2.1% of the occasional airplane they build. All of this can be easily sourced elsewhere. Animal fat and ashes?
So the question of the day is, why in the heck is Joe Biden sending Ukraine $200 million of our hard-earned tax dollars to help them militarily defend themselves in a war they’re destined to lose? It’s what he’s doing. It’s okay to feel a twinge of sorrow for a country that’ll soon be annihilated, but realistically, the U.S. doesn’t have a dog in this fight. Its inevitable outcome will have zero effect on life in the U.S. We won’t even blink.
Humanitarian efforts are one thing, but when Ukraine has the entire EU going to bat for them, they’re more than capable of giving the Rooskies a good run for their money should they collectively call out their troops. Tossing a few threats Putin’s way would most likely make him cower and call the whole thing off.
This would be a good war to sit out while we work on solidifying our own diarrhea. But then came Biden…
