Would you rather be surrounded by stable, secure, and allied nations that share the same values and the same principles of democracy, fundamental human rights, and a rules-based international order – because that’s what you’re spending on – or would you rather be surrounded by
hostile authoritarian states who view the world as up for grabs the second you look away? So as you rush to shake hands with the internationally wanted war criminal in the Kremlin, remember Yalta. You probably don’t, just like you don’t seem to recall the Budapest Memorandum,
so here’s a quick recap: Churchill, Roosevelt, and Stalin gather in Yalta, Crimea, in February 1945 to make a Great Deal, a really great deal. The aim is to shape the postwar peace; the Baltics and most of Eastern Europe isn’t at the table, we’re on the menu, much like right now.
Churchill is the only one advocating for Poland’s and Eastern Europe’s right to choose their own destiny, but Stalin wants his “zone of influence”, while Roosevelt looks to the Pacific. Sound familiar? Did Yalta ensure peace and prosperity with that Great Deal?
No. It carved up Europe and led to almost fifty years of brutal Soviet occupation, mass killings, deportations to Siberian gulags, torture, rape, resource plundering, and repressions in Eastern Europe and Ukraine. You know, those “influence zones”. Those grey blobs on the map.
As someone from one of those grey blobs on the map, I wonder if you’ve ever seen a russian tank up close and personal. I have. It’s a pretty primitive and unwieldy thing, as tanks go. But I tell you what, it’s quite excellent at crushing limbs. Really quite effective.
Still; in 1990, the Baltics stood up the Soviet tanks with a chain of hands and a song. And we’ll do it again, alongside Ukraine. With or without you. I get it, you’re a bit busy right now. Maybe a little confused. It’s OK: we’re not.
We’ll be here when you discover who you are at your core again, America. The land of the free and the home of the brave. We know you’re in there somewhere. P.S. No, this image isn't from Ukraine. It's from Vilnius, Lithuania. 1991. Eglié Gerulaitye #ukraine #NATO #standwithukraine
Well said.