A talking head named Michael Beschloss, who calls himself a historian, recently said on mainstream television that anyone who questions the wisdom of opening our pocketbook to Ukraine and opening that pocketbook so-oo very wide, in fact with NO apparent limits.... anyone who questions that, should be publicly shamed... and required to explain to the world why they have that unacceptable opinion. (Chinese-cultural-revolution struggle session, anyone?)
Beschloss goes on to ask two questions which he claims are the only ones that occur to him: “Do you love Putin? Or do you hate democracy?” According to him, those pretty much exhaust the possibilities regarding the motives of any and all critics of the war.
Wow. Let me say it again: This guy calls himself a historian? I am not a historian, but I know that every war in history, has had a variety of motives on both sides. Beschloss is a historian and he doesn't know that?
According to his “reasoning”, anyone who questioned the wisdom of the Vietnam War, loved Ho Chi Minh. And anyone who questioned the wisdom of the Iraq war, loved Saddam Hussein. It's that simple, in The World According to Beschloss.
After asking those two questions, he adds rhetorically, “Are there any other [questions or reasons]?” Clearly, he believes the answer is No.
I believe the answer is a resounding Yes. There are certainly other questions, other reasons. Quite a few, in fact. Let us enumerate some of them.
1. Many Americans wonder why the borders of Ukraine are sacrosanct, but the borders of the United States are not. It seems a fair question.
2. Neither the Biden regime nor the Zelensky regime is willing to account for the vast expenditures of money that are involved. The degree of accountability is: zip. That should be a deal killer right there. The fact that it is not... is a huge red flag regarding the good faith of the players on both sides.
There is, in fact, every appearance of a massive transfer of wealth occurring, from the American working class to a self-appointed elite of global grifters. It is probable that much of the money never reaches the Ukrainian troops on the front lines, or even the Ukrainian people in any form.
3. The Zelensky regime is not in fact democratic. Zelensky arrests and imprisons critics of his regime, including even Greek Orthodox priests. He has shut down all media outlets that do not toe his party's line. We are therefore not “saving democracy” by keeping Zelensky afloat.
4. Putin does not want to rule the world: He wants to rule Eastern Europe. He has said so for decades, and has been completely consistent. He has consistently said that he would view the expansion of NATO in eastern Europe as a direct threat. So what is the United States doing? You guessed it: expanding NATO in eastern Europe. Someone(s) in the American power structure wants this war, and wants it badly.
5. The USA is breaking established historical precedent in several ways in this war. For example, regime change as a goal of American foreign policy has ALWAYS been explicitly disavowed. It was off the table. Period. Now it is being quietly... and increasingly, not so quietly... proclaimed. But without any real public discussion for such a major change in American policy.
Another example of such precedent-breaking: I cannot remember any significant world conflict in my lifetime, in which the USA-- whatever else it did at the time-- did not simultaneously strongly encourage peace talks. This is the first time that we have conspicuously failed to do so. It's a big change, and it deserves at least a public airing of pros and cons. But apparently our “leaders” don't even want to mention the words “peace talks”, out of fear that someone might actually consider holding them! That would be awkward!
6. The likelihood of Ukraine defeating Russia, even with an apparently endless line of financial credit from American taxpayers, is small (despite the propaganda—that is the correct word-- from our own media). Very likely, Russia will win the war in the end... after Ukraine is pretty much destroyed, and thousands of Russian and Ukrainian lives lost.
Moreover, we will be very fortunate if the war ends with nobody having lost their head and utilizing nuclear weapons. So at a minimum, we are destabilizing and impoverishing a sizable chunk of the world. At a maximum, we are blowing that world up. Literally.
7. If China moves against Taiwan, as appears increasingly likely, will we give Taiwan the same blank check on the American treasury that we are giving Ukraine? Taiwan actually has stronger claims than does Ukraine. Taiwan had those claims even before we set the Ukraine precedent.
8. Speaking of China... have we forgotten that Russia and China signed a “no limits” mutual assistance pact right before the Ukraine war? Why do the Beschlosses of the world rage against members of the US Congress, but have not a word to say about... or to... China?
9. Guess what? We don't actually have the money we are giving Ukraine! We basically gave ourselves a credit line in order to give Ukraine a credit line. Our credit line is actually from China (which is helping Russia, remember?) So we borrow money from China (money they can later demand that we give back) in order to give the money to Ukraine, who most definitely will not give any of it back. So we are vastly increasing our national debt –which is mostly owed to a hostile actor --for what?
Back to you, Mr. Beschloss.
Editor’s note: And, in case you still don’t “get it”, read this article from the MSN “news”. It’s very telling, when you look at it from a skeptical viewpoint.