Dakota Beacon

On the eve of the State of the Union speech we are watching a tense face-off between Russia and Ukraine. The whole world except for China seems arrayed against Russia. Even Switzerland has weighed in against Russia, breaking its traditional neutrality to take sides with Ukraine and its boy president, Zelenskyy. It is to be expected that the US will find itself thrown into this affray, unprepared as we are for another war after the humiliation of being chased out of Afghanistan and unprepared as our now-vaxxed-up military are to take up arms in the Steppes. This might be a good one to stay out of.

For one thing we might be a little more cautious when in comes to unquestioning support of Zelenskyy. Just how, exactly, did he effect his meteoric rise to the community of world leaders? We are told and expected to believe, that he, a comedian, got the idea to play the part of the “President of Ukraine” as a comedy stunt and voilâ! Abracadabra – he is made president of Ukraine! Is it just me, or does this all seem just a tad odd? To become president of just about anything you need a substantial financial base. Even then it isn't easy. Just ask Hillary. It takes some very heavy hitters to get this done. Fame as a comic actor usually isn't that persuasive even for fans. I would want to know a whole lot more about this guy's rise to the top and how he got there and who was in the background. I don't know – he might just be this phenom, but we don't know that.

There are a lot of unanswered questions about this whole matter. There is the cesspool of Burisma. Who was who in that? Zelenskyy supposedly was going to clean it up but has he? A recent press conference with some investigators left many unconvinced that Zelenskyy has done anything constructive to deal with this scandal. If he has been working on it he might just have given us a progress report. He seems not to be in the least reticent when demanding support from the rest of the world. He has put in his order for arms, he has done a quirky and seemingly grossly inappropriate “time-out” interview with, of all people, Sean Penn, supposedly having this sit-down amidst the whistling of missles and the blare of sirens. He has a music video out of himself dancing about in high heels that is not reassuring, He quips about wanting ammunition, “not a ride”, which many found exciting. He poses for lots of pictures flashing a satanic or pseudo-satanic sign. In short, his behavior smacks of the kind of thing we read about in the National Enquirer, sandwiched somewhere between interviews with couples who have been abducted by aliens and the latest capers of the Kardashians. He hardly looks like a serious leader here.

Putin is certainly not a “good guy” - most of us think of him as the Borgia of Europe. His enemies tend to die mysterious deaths. He has as his goal the crowning achievement of putting the rattling old Soviet Union back together again for a big comeback – he has been quoted as saying the day the Soviet Union dissolved was the saddest in Russian history (and that is definitely saying something). There's no good reason to jump onboard the Putin Express as it chugs through Ukraine.

But there are some disturbing questions about just what our relationship with Ukraine has really been. There are credible reports that Putin's first targets were US bio weapons labs throughout that country. Why do we have bio labs in Ukraine? Is it like China, where they were engaging in projects that would have been illegal here in the US? (And in how many other third world sewers are we setting up shop in to develop viruses?) If Putin put another Wuhan out of commission we should thank him for it. For once he would have been on the side of the angels.

Ukraine's long association with the human trafficking trade, and with its thoroughly corrupt political system, have impeded its natural prosperity. Despite being the most fertile agricultural area in Europe and one of the most populous, it's hard to see this in the lives of the people – the short lives of the people, for one of the oft-noted features of Ukraine is short life spans and a generally suppressed economy.

It's true that Putin is no saint – he's the guy we have loved to hate for a long time in the west, the first real threat to our peace of mind with our arch-rival, Russia, since Boris Yeltsin basically up-ended the Soviet Union. He's frequently outrageous in some of his grandstanding moves, poses shirtless on horseback (what's that about?) and generally looks like what he is – the guy who might poison you with kryptonite at the drop of a perceived insult – even if you're in England. So this is not to make light of the threat he could pose. But neither is Zelenskyy. I cannot help but wonder whose side Zelenskyy might be on in reality. What if we load him down with arms – enough to send Russia packing – and Russia just moves in and appropriates them, possibly with the acquiescence of the Ukrainian leadership? Is it possible? Of course it's possible. I don't know whether Putin plays chess on a chessboard, but he plays a good game on the world stage.

The conflict between Russia and its former satellite state seems to have been turned into the only story on the news. It's a bit odd that this one move by Russia should be so all-consuming. We are almost at the point of obsession we saw with the daily covid briefings in 2020. It's an hour-by-hour coverage and many don't even believe the information that is coming out. We have stories about a Miss Ukraine brandishing an automatic rifle and scaring off fierce Russian soldiers, we have stories about motorists waving and jeering at Russian tanks on the side of the road that have run out of gas. Does any of this sound that “real”? Maybe it is. It just doesn't sound it. And why is the rest of Europe blocking RT and other Russian media? Weird? You'd think people would be interested in knowing what is said in Russia.

Little old Switzerland's abandonment of its famous neutrality – which held through WWII – signals to some that this is not quite what it seems. The Swiss found it palatable to countenance Nazi invasions of France and Austria, Czechoslovakia, Poland and the low countries but somehow this invasion into Ukraine is enough to turn them into partisans? Something is weird there. The European Union is weighing in as well, on Zelenskyy's side and for his part, he is trying to sign on with them in between posing for the cameras in “undisclosed locations” and giving television interviews with Sean Penn. Should we now trust the EU? Here is the first nation in a decade that wants to get into the EU. That alone should raise some concern.

Ukraine is not a member of NATO, although they are considered a “partner” of NATO, whatever that means. NATO was devised to guard against Russian interference in Europe, but at that time Ukraine was fully within the Soviet Union. NATO wasn't really set up to break up the Soviet Union, although most of us thought it was a happy day when that happened – at least for the most part. It would be interesting to see how the change has affected the lives of the people, of course.

There was a joke about a parrot. “You don't want this parrot, lady,” the pet shop owner advised a society lady, “he talks, but his last home was a house of ill repute.” She was adamant, however. And it was a beautiful bird. She took him home to her lovely estate. He was to be the centerpiece of a grand dinner party. With all of her elite friends and acquaintances on hand, in her salon, at the big moment she whipped the cover off of his fancy cage. The parrot blinked. He looked around Then he spoke: “Different wallpaper. Different girls. Same old bunch of guys.” This is how it seems in Russia. We have a new name, we have some new policies but the oligarchs are the same basic pool of guys who used to have the state-supplied dachas on the Black Sea or perhaps Dubrovnik. Putin, like the Soviet Premiers of old, or the Tsars, rules over this gang. Not a lot has changed, it would seem.

It would appear that perhaps the sanest course of action with regard to the issue of Ukraine is to stay out of it. We don't need to involve ourselves in every single conflict everywhere. We might better look into the abuse of Tibet by China. But no – that one is ok with our state department, so that's a hard “no”. We seem to be really selective about which oppressed or invaded people we like and which we just don't care about. There is also a sort of pattern here. Whenever we have a Democrat administration this stuff starts to happen. It's like “Gentlemen, start your engines” every time a Democrat is sworn in as president. They're at it again.

Trump fans have noted, correctly, that his foreign and domestic policies were keeping these delinquents at home and off the streets, so to speak. China was on notice that it would not be invading Taiwanese air space or ranging about the South China Sea, Russia wasn't building its pipeline to enable its adventures in Eastern and Central Europe and the Steppes of Central Asia, Israel was hosting friendly treaty signings with various Muslim/Arab nations, cementing peace and cooperation in the Middle East, our own border traffic slowed as policies at home discouraged that invasion (which the press is not interested in). We made invasions impractical because we were, as a nation, energy independent. We did not need to pander to Arabs or anyone else for oil. Don't think for a moment that this did not contribute to peace in the Middle East and the self-containment of Russia. Suddenly, within a year of his departure, all hell has broken loose in just about every corner of the world. It's not a coincidence.

We should rightly be circumspect when we see everyone piling on – the media, first of all, and the leadership of the one-world EU, Elon Musk, et al. There are a lot of people in the “defend Ukraine” society that should make us just a little suspicious, even if Ukrainian MP Kira Rudik, the daredevil defender, had not said in total frankness, that Ukrainians were not just defending Ukraine, but the New World Order. (I don't think she was supposed to say that out loud.) What should be noted is that the EU is joined by Klaus Schwab and George Soros in support of Ukraine.  The Clinton Foundation is a major sponsor.  We have no common interests with any of these entities. We might actually have more in common with Putin, if just for the moment.

If the US unwisely involves itself in this squabble between Russia and Ukraine it could become at best our new Viet Nam or at worst, World War III. We are not defending freedom here, after all. We are choosing between one corrupt socialist country and another. We, in fact, have been provoking just exactly this scenario for many years, threatening always to grow NATO with more nations close to Russia's borders – Putin and others in Russia feel this threat. We have invested in a policy which Russia can view as a threat while allowing Russia to build infrastructure to enable its aggression and dominance. Does this make sense? We further enable them with a domestic policy that is strongly anti-energy independence. We have meanwhile weakened our military by injecting them with harmful “vaccines” on the covid pretext and kicked out those who wished to maintain their health by avoiding them. Everything this administration has done has worsened the situation. Biden has hurt the Ukraine in more ways than one. Besides his corrupt scheme with the last Ukrainian administration he has been instrumental in allowing a Russian invasion through his web of bad policy.

If anything remotely positive can come out of this conflict it might be that rumors are true that Putin has obliterated numerous apparently well-known bio weapons labs, perhaps preventing another outbreak of the flu or worse. If so we should send him flowers and chocolates for that. It seems that much of what we hear is just being staged. Perhaps some is true, but there is an aura of unreality about this which is difficult to ignore.

Russia must not invade Poland, or any other NATO country. That's the deal. And maybe if we don't lose our hat and a** in Ukraine, restore our own military, restore our own energy independence and roll Joe Biden into retirement we might survive to fight another day over a worthwhile principle. Somehow this looks like a good one to watch from the sidelines. Let Switzerland fight this one.

James Madison, perhaps the most practical, productive and wisest of our founding fathers, had this to say about war: “It is a universal truth that loss of liberty at home is to be charged to the provisions against danger, real or pretended, from abroad,” and “No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare.” During wartime even Americans lose much of their freedom. This was true of both World Wars. We will be more free the less we engage in unnecessary foreign conflicts. Only a very real threat of great magnitude should allow us to even consider going into an armed conflict or becoming part of a war. All around us the same voices that were hounding us about “covid” are now in a chorus to engage in this struggle between Russia and its closest neighbor. If we are going to do this and be consistent we can count on that constant and continual warfare. Perhaps this is why it is touted so strongly by the same people who want to limit our freedom here at home.

There is an excellent case to be made why America should not have become embroiled in WWI. The First World War could have been avoided, after all. If Austria felt it necessary to punish a movement in Serbia that culminated in a nut assassinating the heir to their throne, it should not have seemed that out of line to the rest of Europe. These were, after all, colonial powers! England, France, Portugal, even Germany, had used their power to impose upon other, distant nations. The Austro-Hungarian Empire was, at least, a foundation of stability in the war-prone continent of Europe at the end of the 19^th Century. What if they had won? Should that have disturbed America? Of course, if and when any American did say that at the time they would have been beaten up and their barns painted yellow. Kind of like now. “Don't abuse your right to say what you think by saying what you think!”

So I suppose there will be plenty of abuse of those who say, screaming into the wind as it were, that America, at least, has no part of this. Unless, of course, like the Knight of the Sorrowful Countenance, we decide to tilt at the windmills in Tibet while we're at it. And free the Christians in Iran and . . . well, it's much the same. The best thing America can do is be the best America it can. We can slow other countries' aggression by looking strong and being strong. We can be independent of their reckless leaders' whims, we can stand as a model of freedom, not a nation in the throes of constant fear. We can defend our own borders. Why would another nation consider us a deterrent for their aggression when we permit a constant invasion of our own nation? We even fly the invaders to places all over our country and greet them with open arms. Why should we care if someone is invading Ukraine's borders? At least they won't go on Ukraine's welfare rolls.

We will undoubtedly find out that our president* has committed us to some sort of half-way war, where we will be supplying equipment, expertise, blah, blah, blah (as Greta Thunberg would put it) but leave our energy supply at Russia's mercy. This time we should be the Switzerland and let the Swiss go and be the soldiers. There are no “good guys” in this situation. To be sure, there are innocent victims – the people of both Russia and Ukraine and Ukrainians will get the worst of it and worse the longer it goes. We should not jump in to help the boy president of Ukraine this time. Don't offer him ammunition or a ride. He hasn't shown himself to be a serious leader.

We should stay out of Ukraine, keep our powder dry and keep our eyes on Taiwan. Taiwan is a globally important nation, it is our long-term (patient and tolerant) ally despite abuse since Nixon's unfortunate administration and is under imminent threat from Xi Jinping. That is where we might actually have a national interest. While we are running around with the rest of Europe in its frenzy over a possibly put-up war in Ukraine, its two warring factions led by the most corrupt that could be found on the continent, China is waiting for us to throw all of our resources into that. When that happens Taiwan will probably find itself on its own. This is a colossal mistake.  We ought not to allow various entanglements with Europe draw us into this non-NATO matter.  That is exactly what led to WWI.  

Comments:  (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) (RE: Dakota Beacon)