Vice President Biden is in Ukraine voicing our support for Ukraine. Good.
But we must not encourage any belief in Kiev that our support means we would go to war with Russia over Ukraine.
One, as I've said, I don't like the idea of granting NATO protection to a non-NATO member now that it is under threat. Membership should have privileges.
If Ukraine survives this threat, I'm in favor of moving Ukraine towards NATO membership--which would require improving their military so they are not merely a consumer of NATO security. If Ukraine helps themself, we'll help, too.
To help Ukraine survive this crisis, I'd make sure the Ukrainians know that we will assist them with aid to resist the Russian subliminal invasion, resist a conventional invasion, resist a Russian occupation of Ukrainian territory, and resist Russia's conquest of Crimea.
Russia is already claiming we are pulling the strings in Ukraine, making us into the Big Bad:
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told the state-controlled RT English language channel in an interview that Ukraine had chosen to relaunch military operations against separatists in the east during a visit to Kiev by US Vice President Joe Biden.
"This means we have no reason not to believe that the Americans are running the show in the most direct way," said Lavrov in an interview to be broadcast later in the day, excerpts of which were published by Russian news agencies.
Russia will display "evidence" of our operations in Ukraine regardless of what we do.
So why not up our game from MREs and helmets to include small arms, weapons, and other needed gear, as well as help in maintaining their Soviet- and Russian-designed major weapons systems, help with logistics, help with operational planning, help with training, and help with intelligence.
Restraint will not lessen Russian charges of interference, so let's make our assistance effective.
