Ukraine Update: The Folly of Diplomacy with an Aggressor, Russian Genocide, Ukraine’s Government Is Not Like Iraq’s Saddam Hussein Regime

The Folly of Diplomacy with an Aggressor: There have been calls from the left and the isolationist right for “diplomacy” and for Ukraine to negotiate with the Russian Federation about the latter’s aggression against Ukraine. Some even call for Ukraine to cede territory that Russia had recognized as Ukrainian after the Cold War when the Russian Federation recognized the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of the former Soviet Republic, in exchange for Ukrainian relinquishment of Soviet-era nuclear weapons. Other than negotiating the details of a cease-fire, a withdrawal of troops across the border, an exchange of prisoners and reparations from the aggressor, negotiating with an aggressor intent on conquest, as is Russian tyrant Vladimir Putin, an ex-Soviet intelligence officer who is trying to reestablish the Soviet Union, is harmful to the victim, as it legitimizes the aggression and even rewards it. Such appeasement is like expecting a victim to negotiate with his mugger. Russia has no legitimate interest in Ukraine, as its claim of concern about Russian-speakers is unfounded and beyond its sovereign rights, while its claim of a threat from the expansion of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization is disproven by the strictly defensive nature of the pact. Russian Genocide: The Russian atrocities being committed in Ukraine, though typical of Putin’s tactics, such as in Chechnya and Syria, are also examples of genocide, as he is trying to erase Ukrainian national identity in order to make a claim that all of Ukraine, and not only the primarily Russian-speaking areas, should be under the Russian tyrant’s control. Ukraine’s Government Is Not Like Iraq’s Saddam Hussein Regime: As I have noted before, a comparison between the Russian aggression against Ukraine and the Liberation of Iraq by the United States and an international coalition reveals no similarity, as the left and the isolationist right argue, because Iraq was violating the ceasefire it had signed after the Liberation of Kuwait in 1991 and United Nations resolutions that were imposed upon it as a result, in addition to sponsoring terrorism, whereas Russian aggression against Ukraine is totally unjustified. And unlike Putin, the American-led coalition never had any intent on seizing territory, but gave Iraqis the opportunity for self-determination. I post to note also how the argument from the left and the isolationist right that they were similar implies that the elected constitutional parliamentary government of a free Ukraine that is defending itself against Russian aggression is like the autocratic Baathist regime of Saddam Hussein, a brutal tyrant who had himself serially committed aggression, which as an absurd and offensive implication. Instead, American opposition to both Iraqi and Russian aggression has been consistent.