Well, the love fest is definitely over!  At least with regards to foreign policy of the United States and President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine.  Ever since the Russian invasion into Ukraine in 2022, the United States and Europe have given $383 billion in aid to Ukraine, with the US by far being the largest contributor by giving over 1/3 of this amount.  While left leaning think tanks may try to obfuscate or underplay this aid from the United States, it is a fact.  It is also a fact that the situation in the country has not gotten better.  According to Newsweek magazine, the death toll is over one million people in both Ukraine and Russia.  Some estimates claim that there are over 800,000 Russian Army casualties.  Other groups claim a similar number or higher on the Ukrainian side.  13 million people are displaced, and according to the UN, if the war stops today and reconstruction begins in Ukraine, the cost will be at least $500 billion and counting.  So why then does this war continue?

Once again, America is involved with an issue in which most people do not know the history of this conflict (especially within the last 40 years), or the fact that neither side is totally good or totally bad.  And while the Russians did invade into Ukraine in 2022, this currently overt state of war was in existence (according to many scholars) since 2014.  The reasons behind it stretch even further.

According to many pundits from Russia and America, the reasons for the state of war began during the Clinton Administration years, instigated by NATO and several of the western intelligence agencies.  According to these pundits, Mikhail Gorbachev had told President Bush 41 that the price of the fall of the Soviet Union was the need for promise not for NATO to move eastward toward what was previously the sphere of influence of the USSR.  President Bush (41) along with his Secretary of State James Baker made that promise.  That promise was not kept.

Of course, it can be argued that there are two sides to this coin.  From 1989 onwards, the world changed drastically.  It was not just the tremors of previously state run, monolithic economies entering the spectrum of Capitalism.  There were other factors as well.  Terrorism, nuclear weapons, multiculturalism, migration, foreign policies engagements and disagreements-all these factors were not simple anymore.  “Russia is now our ally!”  I am sure the intelligence agencies possibly had their reasons, but none of the intel agencies in the United States or Russia believed or accepted that idea.

Despite the intrigue involved and/or the promises made by the United States and other governments in the West, many of the former Soviet satellites did ask and receive membership into NATO and/or the European Union.  It goes without saying that this is not a perfect world and as the fictional character James Bond said, “governments change but the lies stay the same.”  (From the movie Goldeneye)

I guess it depends on who you ask when trying to ascertain the reasons of this conflict Russia and Ukraine.  Neither side is completely trustworthy, so it is difficult to see who has the moral higher ground in this fight.  The actual history goes back hundreds of years during the time of the Russian Empire (and during the Soviet Empire) and involves many more nations and territories than just modern Ukraine.  It also includes thirteen republics on the border of Russia, Finland, Poland, and the nations on border with Afghanistan.  And the bloodshed from wars and other conflicts is horrifying-some of the worst in all history.

Putin has claimed that Ukraine was “part of Russia” (he means Russian Empire) for hundreds of years.  There is some truth to this point, but it is not completely accurate.  There have also been between these two territories and people groups at least 14 major wars/invasions.  In additions to wars in which hundreds of thousands of people have died, during the time of the Soviet Union, Ukraine suffered terribly from the Lenin regime onwards.  During the reign of Joseph Stalin, the worst famine in history (before World War 2) was perpetrated by the Communist Party on the people Ukraine with over 2 million deaths.  In addition to this statistic, the account of how many Ukrainians were transported to slave labor in Siberia is unknown.  Joseph Stalin once said, “One death is a tragedy.  A million is a statistic.”

My God…what a statistic.

In spite of all the tragedies, Ukraine’s joint history with Russia resulted in great victories for these peoples during the times of the Russian Empire as well as in the times of the Soviet Union.  During World War 2, General Ivan Konev led the First Ukrainian Front (army group) of the Red Army which retaliated against the Nazis and invaded into Europe.  Much of Ukraine’s western territory was formerly part of Poland, not only as a conquest by these divisions.  But also as a result of the deal made between Stalin and Hitler before the start of World War 2.  Nikita Khrushchev (the man who would be the leader of the USSR after Stalin) ruled Ukraine as First Secretary or the Communist Party there.  Leonid Brezhnev, who would become the General Secretary after leading a coup against Khrushchev was born there.

I do not mention these points to paint a rosy picture of Ukraine’s existence when it was allied with Russia.  But rather to state the obvious facts, both good and evil, between these two nations.  And when one thinks about it on those lines, this conflict seems extraneous, redundant, and ridiculous.

In 2022, when this present war started, many in the West were under the impression that this was an unprovoked attack on Ukraine from a belligerent Russia and its president Vladmir Putin.  If Zelensky has canonized by the western press, Putin has become almost as synonymous as Satan.

Putin is the longest ruling leader in Russia since Joseph Stalin.  Except a brief period as Prime Minister (during which his close ally and fellow KGB alumnus Dmitry Medvedev served as President) Putin has been in control.  And the constitution of Russia was amended to keep him in power.

Some say he is a relic from the defunct Soviet Union.  No, relic is not the right word.  He is to modern Russia what King Charles 2 was to England after the Protestant Protectorate.  He is the return to the only form of government that has ever ruled Russia whether it was a kingdom, an empire, capitalistic, or communist.  His time in the KGB (as well as its replacement organization the FSB) should have been a sign of this endpoint to the West back in the 1990s.

According to late novelist Tom Clancy, the most powerful, most efficient engine of the Soviet Union was its secret police, the infamous KGB.  An organization with a horrifying history immersed with the blood of tens of millions of victims.  In his last novel, Red Rabbit, Clancy wrote about the man who was possibly Putin’s biggest influence as a leader.  Yury Andropov the man who was the longest serving director of the KGB and later became General Secretary and President of the Soviet Union after the death of Leonid Brezhnev.

In the novel, which is a combination of fantasy, facts, and real-world events, Clancy described the position of Andropov and those who sat at the top of that intelligence apparatus.  They were the ones who knew the real condition of their nation and the Communist empire.  More so than the politburo of the USSR.  Specifically, the corruption and backwardness in the communist system, both in its government as well as in its economy.  In the novel, Andropov is driven by the idea of trying to “save his country”, and anything toward that end was possible.  No one else could do it.  (In the novel, this meant ordering the assassination of Pope John Paul 2 who had threatened to resign the papacy and return to his native country of Poland as the Communist government of the country was rising against Lech Walesa Solidarity movement.  Clancy believes that this event triggered the beginning of the end of communism in eastern Europe, and eventually in the USSR as well.)

By all observations, Putin looks at himself and his administration in the same way.  And especially with regards to his policy regarding Ukraine.

Ukraine since its independence in 1991 in the aftermath of the dissolution of the Soviet Union has been a playground for corruption, both internally as well as by foreign agents and powers.  Its government has a long history of swinging between alliances with NATO/United States and Russia.  It should be pointed out that the involvement from the west (meaning NATO as well as the EU) was hardly “peaceful” or “legal”.  While not overtly violent, the West’s relationship with Ukraine was filled with intrigue.

Oligarchs with money brought politicians and intelligence agents into full-fledged money laundering and bribery schemes.  (The Biden family is only one example.)  Likewise, Russia pushed for its interest in the eastern part of the nation, particularly in the Donbass region along with other place due to its national security, such as in Crimea and Georgia.  None of this is new.  It has been the situation since the year 2000.  (In 2008, during the Olympic Games in Beijing, Russia invaded the republic of Georgia.  In 2014, it annexed the Crimea.  The world noticed but did not really do anything.  The West was engaged in the War on Terror.)

Zelensky’s blow up in the Oval Office is cynically laughable.  Especially when one considers the history of his country with the United States since 2020 onwards.  President Trump’s second impeachment in his first term was based on a conversation he had with the then new president of Ukraine, the one-time comedian/actor Volodymyr Zelensky.  To this day, no one knows what impeachment was about and yet it was viciously pursued by then Democrat Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi with a Trump hating media treating every detail as if it were a national security violation akin of selling the secret of the Atomic Bomb.  In reality, it was nothing more than a distraction operation.  In this case to coverup for the Biden Family’s corruption in Ukraine.  And almost certainly the corruption of several other individuals.

After the invasion in 2022, Zelensky became a sacrosanct figure in the eyes of the world.  “The symbol of resistance to oppression.”  Time Magazine’s “Person of the Year”.  Everywhere he went in the West, politicians and pundits lauded over him.  Military figures and propagandists pontificated that the Russians were suffering setback and would lose the war shortly.

Putin was called every type of pejorative.  A dictator.  A murderer.  A despot.  A “throwback” to the days of the Soviet Union.  The uncrowned Czar.  Putin was the “most dangerous threat to Europe”.  More dangerous than Hitler.  More dangerous than Soviet Union and its invasion into Europe.  Putin was the devil incarnate.  And Zelensky was the “angel”.

The problem?  The destructions of this war were hardly covered.  O the passing mention was made about bombings and troop movements.  But the only focus of the media was on Zelensky’s celebrity and the constant push for billions of dollars of support for him and Ukraine every time he asks.  The military conflict itself was hardly covered.  Journalists and pundits breathlessly rhapsodized that “Russia would be defeated in a matter of days.”

 That was two years ago.

In the meantime, anyone who even remotely looked at Russia’s rationale for going to war was immediately canceled or silenced.  So, the fact that the business end of this war started in 2014 and that the reasons for this conflict go back to the late 1990s escaped most people.  Along with the fact that in the two years since this conflicted started, over 1 million people have died.  To put that number in perspective, in the 5 years of the U.S. involvement in World War 2, the death toll of all armed forces personnel and civilians totaled about 420,000 people.

If matters were not already bad enough, Zelensky and others have been talking with all do seriousness about acquiring nuclear weapons.  President Trump asked the question during the election time last year: “Have these people lost their minds?”

In addition to all the money, the United States has given the most modern military technology and hardware.  Drones and missiles are flying over Russian airspace, all made in the USA.  For all practical purposes, this is a proxy war between America and Russia.  And there is no idealistic endpoint.  According to current estimates, 2000 people die in this conflict every week.  The destruction in cities and other infrastructure in Ukraine and Russia increases daily.

President Trump came into office with promise of stopping this war, but he deals with entrenched special interest in the United States and Europe who will continue this conflict until it does indeed become a third world war which will require by necessity, invasion.  In the last 100 years, this territory has seen brutal war and bloodshed.  One would wonder, are these people nothing more than “disposable commodities”?

As the late American Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger said, the objective of diplomacy is to achieve the next to worst outcome.  In order to alleviate the plight of the people of Ukraine, there is no other way.  I should say, this is also true of the Russian people as well.  One million dead soldiers are enough, and we do not need a further demonstration of deadlier, more powerful weapons.

Many of the nations in the European Union, along with America’s neighbor Canada, have “rallied” behind Zelensky.  President Trump retorted that these very nations have “bought more Russian oil than have provided financial support for Ukraine.”  Another fact revealing the cynicism of this conflict.  Their support had more to do with their angst with President Trump and Vice President Vance (after his earthy shaking speech in Germany last month about with loss of rights in Western European countries) rather than any love for Zelensky.

Veteran journalist/editorialist Cal Thomas revealed that at the time of this infamous meeting was happening in the Oval Office, across the street, a different group of Ukrainian representatives were meeting other U.S. government officials, and perhaps the Ukrainian people would have been better served if they had met President Trump in the Oval Office rather than Zelensky.  These were Evangelical leaders from such denominations as the Ukrainian Pentecostal Church, and the All-Ukrainian Union of Churches of Evangelical Christian Baptists, and other church groups were giving firsthand experiences and observations of war crimes and suffering at the hands of Russian army troops who had invaded into Ukraine.  I cried.  Several years ago, a delegation of Pentecostal believers from this area attended the general conventions of Maranatha Full Gospel Church.  I met others at the Azuza Street Centennial Conference in 2006.  At the time, Ukraine was the epicenter of one of the biggest revivals in the world, and perhaps the only part in Europe which was seeing a massive rise of protestant/evangelical Christianity.  One of the churches in Kiev had over 25000 members.  I was pleasantly surprised to see what God was doing there.  And the people were some of the finest believers I have ever met.  The move of God there was happening in the aftermath of the worst persecution against the Christian Church in Europe since the first century Roman Empire-meaning the persecution from Soviet Communism which lasted for 70 years.  When this group of people are speaking about atrocities committed by the Russian army, then they deserve a higher platform, a better seat, and a meeting with the President of the United States, more so than Volodymyr Zelensky ever did.  I truly believe that Ukraine could have had a better outcome to this conflict with Russia if they were given more of a hearing than a comedian-turned-politician-dubbed sacrosanct living saint by the double faced worldwide press.  It is for their sake; this war must end.

Europe has seen more war than any other continent in history.  The same battlefields are drenched with blood and the world hears the same kinds of atrocities in the same cities and regions which were affected by the same 70 years ago. It reminded me of a poem by the late American writer, Carl Sandburg:

Grass

O God give your people peace.