Several parallels can be drawn between America’s war for independence and Ukraine’s war to defeat Russia. As the United States begins its 251st year as what Ronald Reagan said was “the last best hope for a mankind plagued by tyranny and deprivation,” it should rededicate itself to using all means short of war to help Ukraine defeat Russia.
Washington Post columnist David Ignatius has noted that just as the United States fought to liberate itself from an imperial power in 1776, Ukraine today is fighting for its freedom against an imperial power which once ruled it and wants to reconquer it. And just as General Washington sought to wear down Great Britain and make it give up, so too is President Zelenskyy attempting to win a war of attrition against Russia.
Moreover, in each case, the United States in 1776 and Ukraine today sought and secured assistance from foreign powers. By the end of the American Revolution, America had forged military alliances with the French and Spanish Empires and the Dutch Republic. Ukraine has sought and received assistance from our NATO allies. But America’s own aid, offered by President Biden, has been largely curtailed by President Trump.
President Biden has been faulted for giving Ukraine only enough military aid to stave off defeat, but not enough to actually win. Strings attached to the weapons systems America supplied placed severe limits on how far into Russia Ukraine could attack.
But although Biden feared provoking Vladimir Putin too much, he nonetheless understood the stakes in the war Putin launched. Putin has said the collapse of the Soviet Union was the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the twentieth century, and he wants to revive it (albeit without communism). But to do so, he must bring not only Ukraine but other independent nations as well either back under direct Russian rule or at least under overwhelming Russian influence. Ukraine is currently under direct attack, and should Ukraine fall, then Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria will be threatened as well. And while the United States has no NATO-based obligation to go to actual war with Ukraine, it may have to do so should Putin attack one or more of these other countries, which are members of NATO. In other words, what Biden understood is that to help Ukraine defeat Russia is to stop Russian imperialism and reduce the risk that Russia will launch a war against our NATO allies, which would suck us in as well.
But to date Trump and Vice President JD Vance have shown little knowledge, understanding, or interest in the war between Ukraine and Russia and the ramifications of a Ukrainian defeat. Vance has mocked Zelenskyy for his attire, expressed indifference to Ukraine’s fate, boasted of his efforts to eliminate American aid to Ukraine, and campaigned openly for Putin’s closest ally in NATO, Viktor Oran, the (now former) right-wing dictator of Hungary.
Trump has done a little better. He has at times made noises about wanting to end the killing in the war, and attempted to advance peace at his meeting with Putin in Alaska last year (had he actually persuaded Putin to end the war, return all conquered territory to Ukraine, return the kidnapped children, and pay reparations for the rebuilding of Ukraine, Trump would without doubt have been deserving of the Nobel Peace Prize). But too often, Trump has posited a moral equivalence between Ukraine and Russia, and a baffling respect for and deference to the bloody and autocratic Putin, which he is unwilling to show to leaders of Canada, Denmark, and our other democratic allies (I’m assuming the absence of a secret alliance or relationship between Trump and Putin).
If Trump truly wants a lasting peace between Ukraine and Russia, he should arm Ukraine so heavily, and with so few strings attached, that Ukraine can administer a knock-out blow that will convince Putin once and for all that Russia cannot win its war and that, like Great Britain in 1781 following Yorktown, it should cut its losses and accept a peace that will guarantee Ukrainian freedom. And Ukraine should be admitted to NATO with the understanding that NATO will not go to war against Russia unless Russia first resumes war against Ukraine or against another NATO ally. Far more than all the gaudy fireworks displays, parades, and flowery speeches, securing a lasting peace for Ukraine will be true to the spirit of our own American Revolution.
Malcolm L. Cross has lived in Stephenville since 1987 and taught politics and government at Tarleton for 36 years, retiring in 2023. His political and civic activities include service on the Stephenville City Council (2000-2014) and on the Erath County Republican Executive Committee (1990-2024). He was Mayor pro-tem of Stephenville from 2008 to 2014. He has served on the Board of Directors of the Stephenville Economic Development Authority since 2018, and as chair of the Erath County Appraisal District’s Appraisal Review Board since 2015. He is also a member of the Stephenville Rotary Club, the Board of Vestry of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, and the Executive Committee of the Boy Scouts’ Pecan Valley District. Views expressed in this column are his and do not reflect those of The Flash as a whole.
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