With the Biden administration proposing another $24 billion to support Ukraine’s military, I think it may be time to reassess my enthusiastic backing of the fight against Russia.
The United States is by far the largest donor to Ukraine. Congress has already approved $113 billion in military, economic, humanitarian, and other aid for Ukraine, including around $70 billion for security, intelligence, and additional war-fighting costs. An estimated 90 percent of that total has already been spent or designated to be spent.
In the past year, overall support for Ukraine has waned. According to a poll released by CNN last week, fifty-five percent of Americans now oppose more aid to Ukraine. The party breakdown is stark—71 percent of Republicans oppose additional assistance, while 62 percent of Democrats favor it.
Vladimir Putin is a bad guy. His invasion of Ukraine, which began in 2014 with the seizure of Crimea and the subsequent attacks a year ago, is anathema to world peace and security.
But is the wholesale support of Ukraine worth the cost and the potential downside of exhausting the ability of the United States to keep its military ready to fight against other threats, such as China?
The Heritage Foundation has put together a rather convincing case against continuing aid to Ukraine at its current levels.
In a recent opinion piece, Kevin Roberts, the president of the foundation, wrote the following:
–“It is simply untenable for Americans to bear the vast majority of the burden among our allies in standing up to threatening states.”
–“Our concentration on Ukraine has undermined our ability to address the worsening military situation in Asia, especially around Taiwan.”
–“However just and noble Ukraine’s cause is, continuing to focus on it at the expense of confronting and deterring China is not wise, moral, or conservative.”
Roberts makes a variety of good points. I take away three important ones. First, U.S. foreign policy must focus mainly on China’s economic and military threat rather than Russia’s. Second, the United States must take a strategic approach toward Ukraine rather than depleting American military stockpiles. Third, Russia poses a more significant threat to Europe than the United States, so NATO countries should assume a substantial burden of the cost. See https://www.heritage.org/asia/commentary/the-correct-conservative-approach-ukraine-shifts-the-focus-china#
I’m not arguing that we should cut off Ukraine. We just need to figure out a better strategy there and an even better one in dealing with China.
Blogger with a Soviet-made Volga sedan in Sece, Latvia. Behind the car is a newly-built tractor barn.
By John Ruberry
Late last month I traveled to Latvia, where Mrs. Marathon Pundit was born and raised, for the first time in 25 years. I had also visited with her in 1994.
I expected a different Latvia, and indeed that was the case.
First, a little history. A series of nations ruled Latvia, the last being czarist Russia, until 1918. The Bolsheviks recognized Latvian independence in 1920.
But along with neighboring Estonia and Lithuania, while most of the world was focused on Nazi Germany’s aggression in western Europe, Latvia was forcibly annexed by the Soviet Union in 1940. The Nazis attacked the USSR a year later, but the Soviets recaptured the Baltic States later in the war.
Three months before the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Evil Empire recognized the independence of the Baltic States.
When Latvia regained its independence, the population as just 52 percent Latvian. Russians, many of them brought to Latvia to replace Latvians deported to Siberia in the 1940s, made up about a third of the population in the last days of the Latvian SSR. Many of them quickly left after independence, but Russians still make about one-quarter of the population of Latvia. Riga, Latvia’s capital and largest city, has a Russian population of about 35 percent. Russians are a clear majority in Daugavpils, Latvia’s second city.
The Latvia I saw in the 1990s was poor, my guess is, without the abject poverty, economically speaking it was on the level of Mexico.
But in 2004, the Baltic States joined the European Union, also that year they became members of NATO.
Since then, it’s been full steam ahead for Latvia, notwithstanding the 2008-09 recession.
What I saw in Latvia in June was a prosperous European nation. Gone are the gray–literally, they were gray–retail stores. They have been replaced by colorful and brightly lit retail outlets. Many of these stores, as well as hotels, utilize English-language names. Instruction in English began in Latvian schools after independence was achieved. All Latvians under 35 speak pretty good English.
I’m a runner, and I was one of the few when I hit the roads for a workout. Now there are many running, or if you prefer, cycling trails.
During my first visits I saw many Russian-made cars on the Latvian streets and highways. My wife and I traveled hundreds of miles during my nine days there–she will be in Latvia for another week—and I saw just two Russian-made cars, both Ladas. I’m pictured with an old Volga above. That make was discontinued in 2010. Volkswagen, Audi, and BMW are the most popular cars in Latvia.
Mrs. Marathon Pundit and I spent a lot of time in rural communities. She grew up on a collective farm in Sece, which is pretty much at the center of Latvia. They grew an assortment of crops, mostly potatoes, beets, and cucumbers, and while driving thru Latvia in the 1990s, the look of the land betrayed that odd lot cultivation. While Latvia doesn’t look like Iowa–there are few cornfields and about half of Latvia is forested–it’s becoming a nation of mega-farms. Wheat, canola, oats, are the major crops. And potato growing is hanging on.
My wife attended her high school reunion in Sece, she was one of three in attendance from her graduating class of seventeen. One our hosts was another, and the third, almost certainly the wealthiest man in Sece, has been buying, one by one, parcels of land that were part of those old collective farms that were divided up after independence, in Sece, from people to old to tend to the soil, or who have no interest to do so.
The prosperous farmer is the owner of that Volga in the photograph.
The graduating class sizes of my wife’s old school is now roughly 10 students per year. Rural Latvia, just like rural America, is shrinking.
Only rubble remains of the farmhouse where my wife grew up. Thousands of Latvians can attest to the same situation.
Scattered throughout Latvia are the ugly white-brick buildings, poorly built, that are long-abandoned. “That used to the community creamery in Sece,” Mrs. Marathon Pundit said to me. “That used to be the tractor motor pool, the tractors parked next to them haven’t moved in years.” She could have said the same to me every dozen miles or so when we drove past similar structures. Nearly every one of these collective farm buildings have been long abandoned. They are miniature Pompeiis that were never buried, sad monuments to the failure of communism, an economic and political system that never should have been implemented. Sadly, after over a century of proven failure, there are still people falling for Marxist nonsense.
In the cities and the small towns, khrushchevka apartment buildings, known in the West as “commieblock” structures, are still omnipresent. Most of them utilize those same unpleasant white bricks.
And in the cities, especially Riga, you’ll find many abandoned buildings that were Soviet-era factories.
Yes, I know, we have abandoned buildings in our American cities. But Riga has many new buildings–beautiful ones. I’m particularly fond of the National Library of Latvia.
Yes, but what about Donald Trump?
Okay, that was an abrupt transition, but most Latvians don’t like him. With the war in Ukraine showing no sign of ending, and when I was in Latvia when the apparent Wagner Group attempted coup occurred, his name, and that of Vladimir Putin, was brought up many times.
Oh, Joe Biden is viewed in Lativa as an ineffective old man.
But wait, what about Trump?
To a person, Latvians are pissed off about Trump’s compliments of Putin. For instance, shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine, he called Putin’s move “genius” and “savvy.” I explained that Trump is running to regain the White House, and the former president, dating back to his career as a real estate mogul, is the consummate negotiator, Trump, in my opinion, could be simply playing mind games with Putin. He used a similar strategy with Kim Jong Un. Trump’s flattery is analogous, I tried to reason, to entering a store and being complimented on the shirt I am wearing by a flirtatious saleswoman. Suddenly, my guard is dropped. True, Putin is likely made of tougher stuff than I am. I think.
Only the Latvians I spoke to weren’t buying my explanation. Don’t forget, Russia borders Latvia on the east, and Putin’s puppet state of Belarus is on Latvia’s southeast. In spite of their nation’s membership in NATO, it’s understandable that Latvians are quite nervous about Russia. Dual invasions from Russia’s Kaliningrad exclave and from Belarus into Lithuania could quickly isolate all three Baltic nations.
Latvia faces challenges, a declining population is the biggest one. While life is better now in Latvia, it’s even better in Scandinavia and Germany. European Union membership presents a dilemma for Latvia.
If you’re the least bit of a Trek fan you will want to take 20 minutes and watch Ladd Ehlinger’s bit on Star Trek 2 as the counter Trek that saved the franchise.
I can’t like and subscribe as I’m banned from Youtube but if you’re in a position to do so you can.
The Don Surber blog is still up but they’re already digging out old posts to give his strikes on (basically how they killed me on Youtube) but his substack account has been putting out winners daily including today’s post: “Invest in New Mexico, not Ukraine” which produced my pick for the “Quote of the Day”
Oddly enough, Biden’s sanctions pushed Putin to seek Xi’s help, reversing Nixon’s successful strategy of pitting the USSR against Red China. But then again, Biden has been wrong on every foreign policy for 50 years.
I say oddly because I do not know if this was the true goal of Biden because I don’t know who offered the bigger bribe.
Don is definitely worth a subscription if you can afford it you might consider a paid one.
Finally I don’t do a lot of tip jar shaking and given the state of DaTipJar it shows but let me instead make a pitch in a different direction.
Old Friend Zilla could use a buck or two. We’re hoping the bring here back here and she is trying to very slowing rebuild a life that has, to put it mildly, been shaken up
The tip jar has not gone up on the new site but it works fine on her old one so if you can top over and drop a fiver in there I’d consider it a favor but not as big a favor as she would .
“Of course he’s worried about it, the laptop that they found from Hunter is basically a step-by-step description of one of the biggest influence-peddling schemes in history. I mean, the fact is that influence-peddling has been a Biden family business for a long time. They have been rather notorious and open about it. I mean, the Fords are known for cars and the Coors are known for beer, and the Bidens are known for influence-peddling, and it’s an entire family affair.” Jonathan Turley, George Washington University Law School professor.
“I don’t think there’s a lot of things that would have happened in my life if my last name wasn’t Biden.” Hunter Biden.
“I pray Heaven to bestow the best of blessings on this house and all that shall hereafter inhabit it. May none but honest and wise men ever rule under this roof.” John Adams.
The fictional Corleone family of The Godfather books and movies had a front business, Genco Olive Oil. The Biden family has politics as its legitimate front, specifically Joe Biden’s career in Washington as a senator, vice president, and now president.
Hunter Biden, notoriously served on the board of Burisma Holdings, a Ukrainian energy firm, even though the president’s troubled son had no experience in energy. Hunter doesn’t speak Ukranian. But as vice president, Joe was President Obama’s point man for Ukraine. China is America’s chief geopolitical foe, but Hunter had extensive business dealings with Chinese firms, and that means also the Chinese government, as the ChiComms have their fingers in every large business there.
And in one proposed Chinese deal discovered on the Hunter Biden laptop, there would be “10 held by H for the big guy.” According to Tony Bobulinski, a former Hunter business associate, “the big guy” is “Middle Class Joe,” the 46th president–Joe would collect 10 percent. In that same deal another 10 percent would go to Jim Biden, one of the president’s brothers.
Last week CNN–yes, CNN–reported that Jim Biden “touted his connection with his politically powerful brother, former business associates say.”
And then there is Frank, Joe’s youngest brother. In that same CNN story, it tells of Frank bragging in 2021 about “the bully pulpit that I have as a result of the privilege of being associated with my brother Joey.”
Also in 2021, WFTX-TV in Florida revealed, “the Berman Law Group of Boca Raton regularly touts their ties with the president–featuring Frank and his family connections–on their website and in promotional materials.”
Were those documents accidentally there? Or is something nefarious going on?
By now it should be clear what the Biden family business really is: Influence-peddling.
The first batch of docs were found at the Biden think tank office in Washington just before the November elections and the White House, including “the big guy,” knew about it and said nothing until CBS broke the news ten days ago.
