One would suggest that time is more critical for the latter. There appear to be more Russian soldiers than Ukrainian bullets. Ukraine is undergoing a very trying time not because of lack of will or resolve, but because it feels betrayal.
But the case in America is equally critical, America is not in danger of ceasing to be a country or a nation, But certainly its role as a democracy and a global leader is under question. Yet , there ought not be pessimistic thoughts that Donald J. Trump, now clearly the Republican candidate for President Of the United States will prevail in November. For most Republicans the primaries were a resounding victory for the former president. For the rest us it was reassuring that forty percent of Republicans could not vote for Trump
I am reminded of Diogenes’ search for an honest man. The Greek philosopher would have been very much frustrated had he encountered the MAGA Republicans. The latest to join the roll is the old self identified political expert Mitch McConnell with nary a bone in his spine. He condemned Trump after January 6, 2020 and then voted against impeachment. There were personal issues as well. Trump disparaged the Senator’s wife. Nonetheless, Senator McConnell voiced support for Trump. It could not be a need for reciprocal political support because McConnell has stated that he will not run for Republican Senate leadership in November. Furthermore he has four years left on his Senate term. So why frankly diminish your career in history by being a sycophant? There are so many McConnell’s in today’s American Republication party.
Nonetheless, this leads me to believe in America. Diogenes would be gratified. Independents today constitute the second largest voting group in America. The Republican Party under the leadership of Donald Trump under indictments on 91 counts has garnered the support of the uneducated and the Evangelicals. The latter have assumed that he is their anti-abortion champion when in actuality Trump could not care less about that political or moral issue and, probably, has paid for more than one abortion during his less than Christian lifetime. The Evangelicals supporting Trump are certainly the most gullible electorate in America,
And so the victim of this American betrayal is Ukraine. Allowing for the benefit of a doubt, Speaker Mike Johnson is a neophyte and gullible. The alternative is that he is simply evil.
Ukraine will survive this madness because the Ukrainian people are intrepid. Additionally they are creative and inventive. They manufacture their own drones, both for land and sea. They are destroying Russian fighter jets and warships. They have taken the war with Russia to Africa. They may be losing ground temporarily but they are garnering more support from Europe. France is beginning to talk about boots on the ground as is Poland and other countries. Germany post Angela has supplied more weapons to Ukraine than any country other than America. Supplying German Taurus missiles is only a matter of time. Europe understands that a Ukrainian counter offensive has to involve the territory of the Russian Federation as deep as Moscow with European support.
No one in Europe wants to see Russians on their own territory. Ukraine is the European red line. Ukrainians are dying so that Europe may live as in the past. Please consider Ukrainian Cossacks defending Vienna. People like Prime Minister Viktor Orban of Hungary have been rebuked and they will follow if they wish to remain and benefit from EU and NATO membership and justifiably so. He has been an albatross to Europe.
The war will not conclude in 2024, but it will take a turn for the better. Europe will become much more involved. Ukraine will manifest even more resolve and courage and finally America will come around.
I sincerely hope that the Republican Party in America will undergo yet another transformation, but if it does not, it will become irrelevant in America. Not for any other reason except that the American people whether they are educated or not can only be fooled only so many times. I feel for some of the good Evangelical supporters of the MAGA aberration. Donald J. Trump is a fraud. You will experience an epiphany. You will recognize your apostasy and finally you will do the right and moral thing. Interestingly enough no country in Eastern Europe has as many Evangelicals as Ukraine. My message to the Evangelicals in America, reach out to your brethren in Ukraine. You have so much in common including a deep and moral conviction in good triumphing over evil an the Christian mantra of helping your neighbour, something that Donald Trump does not share.
2024 may not be a bad year for America or Ukraine. It will be an awakening for America and a time of some difficulty with a very hopeful future for Ukraine. I believe in both the American and Ukrainian people.
March 7, 2024 Askold S. Lozynskyj