With the Israel-Hamas war continuing to rage on, the war in Ukraine has moved to the back of American’s minds, if it hasn’t disappeared completely.
Russia’s bombing of a children’s hospital in Ukraine 3 days ago reminds us of how autocrats feel about democratic countries. One of their main objectives is to destroy them. Donald Trump speaks like an autocrat when it comes to the NATO alliance.
It’s clear that he doesn’t understand how NATO works and how it benefits the United States. Trump talks about NATO countries “paying up” or losing the benefit of the United States coming to their defense should they be attacked. Ignorance breeds ignorance and he is passing his ignorance onto his supporters in the form of misinformation.
The United States is not being paid by NATO countries in exchange for a promise that we will defend them should they be attacked. “An attack on one is an attack on all” explains the entire premise of the alliance of democratic countries. It is us (NATO countries) against the autocratic leaders of the world. Putin despises NATO because it prevents him from reaching his goal of reassembling the old Soviet Union.
Trump forgets that our NATO allies came to our defense after the terrorist attack of September 11. Their soldiers died defending us in the war in Afghanistan. So for Trump to act as if we will withhold our defense should an ally be attacked, is a display of his narcissistic ego being transposed onto the United States. NATO countries don’t pay “dues” in order to be members of the alliance, as he and his supporters seem to think.
The agreement signed by member countries is that members of NATO will spend 2% of their country’s GDP on their own military. They do not pay us anything. Members don’t pay a fee that goes into some collective “pot” of money used in the defense of a country under attack.
NATO leaders are now attempting to “Trump-proof” the alliance should he come back into power in the U.S. Trump loves autocratic leaders like Viktor Orbán, Vladimir Putin, Kim Jong-un, and others. He doesn’t hide it, either. It’s obvious he is still angry with Volodymyr Zelenskyy for refusing to play his part in Trump’s “quid-pro-quo” during his presidency—which he was impeached for. Instead, he praises autocrats constantly during his rallies.
The fear is that the United States under Donald Trump will stop being the democratic leader of the free world and instead join the group of authoritarian countries whose goal it is to destroy democracy all over the world. Some people don’t realize how devastating it would be should our country stop being the leader of the world and join our enemies instead. Which country will step up to fulfill that role? This is only one of the questions that was discussed at the 2024 NATO summit in D.C.
When Viktor Orbán visited Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago, Trump promised him that the U.S. Would stop sending any aid to Ukraine after he’s elected in November. Orbán recently visited with Putin in Russia, making it clear who he aligns himself with in the Russia war against Ukraine
This bring us back around to the main subject of this article—Ukraine. Americans appear to have forgotten the plight of Ukrainian civilians and how Russia, like Israel in Gaza, is attacking innocent people in Ukraine. Putin has been bombing residential housing and hospitals just like Netanyahu and the IDF are doing in Gaza. The Russian army has been kidnapping Ukrainian children and taking them to Russia so that they will be raised there, preventing a new generation of people from growing up in a democracy.
Remember when Russia was attacking electric grids in Ukraine? People were freezing in their apartments located in one particular high-rise that was reported on in the media here. Displaced Ukrainians were facing freezing temperatures as they were fleeing cities dedeated and claimed by the Russian army. We saw the video recorded by a Ukrainian citizen as they drove down the street. Bodies of innocent civilians lay on sidewalks and in the street. One man lay motionless beside a bicycle—Shot and killed while riding down the street.
Putin has repeatedly bombed maternity hospitals and residential areas. On the ground, Russian soldiers have been killing everyone on sight—soldier or civilian.
Without aid from the U.S., the Ukrainian army lost ground with Russia and the army was taking over cities as they advanced across the country towards Kiev. The Ukrainian “army,” don’t forget, is made up of citizens fighting to save their country. Civilians have been taking up arms to fight back since the beginning of the invasion. They’ve been praised by many for their bravery and love of country.
Soldiers and citizens fighting against Russia often post images and updates on social media. Their sometimes humorous and entertaining posts have created a following of people who cheer them on. At one point, Facebook users had changed their profile photos to include a border indicating that “I stand with Ukraine.”
Unfortunately, the passage of time, the attack on Israel by Hamas on October 7th, and the resulting attack on Gaza by the IDF has taken Ukraine’s place in the headlines and in the minds of Americans. Protests erupted on college campuses all over the world calling for a ceasefire and an end to the ever-increasing civilian death toll in Gaza.
Americans haven’t forgotten about Ukraine, but their defense of a fellow-democracy has been pushed aside by a war with more urgent consequences. Famine and disease have already set in among Gazans sheltering in Rafah, a place, they were told, that was safe. Palestinian women and children are being killed at an alarming rate, along with aid workers and journalists. The IDF is taking Palestinians into custody where they are imprisoned sans trial, men are tortured, and women and girls are raped, sexually abused, and locked in cages outdoors in the elements.
But we must not forget about our democratic ally and the innocent civilians of Ukraine. We must work to educate people who have been fed lies and misinformation about NATO and its members. The bombing of a children’s hospital in Ukraine has reminded us of the importance of our aid in the form of weapons and ammunition. It has also reminded us of the danger posed by an authoritarian coming into power as not just the leader of the United States, but the leader of the free world.
Zany Progressive stands with Ukraine. 🇺🇦
