People keep saying we should "understand" Russia's need for a buffer space on their western borders with Europe. Nobody ever seems to "understand" America's need to keep Russia as far east as possible in Europe.
"Understanding" Russia's need for a buffer zone in the West should not mean "accepting" Russia's paranoia that the West will invade Russia. Russian paranoia might not even be calmed down if Russian troops patrolled Hadrian's Wall on the Scottish border.
But as sophisticated Americans push the boundaries between understanding and accepting, nobody mentions that America has a long history of national defense that means Russia cannot be allowed to push west:
The United States is secure from land invasion, so the only threats that can arise come from the oceans. Securing the seas has thus been the foundation of U.S. national security since 1900.
History backs this up [with interventions in Europe in World War I, World War II, and the Cold War] . ...
If the European Peninsula were ever dominated by a single power that could consolidate its human and material resources, it might construct a naval force that could threaten North America. For the U.S., preventing domination of the European Peninsula by any single power stops a threat before it happens. And this is the crux of its interest in Ukraine.
As for my Hadrian's Wall comment? I'm only being semi-hyperbolic:
That’s because for a country like Russia there is safety in distance. It’s reasonable to assume Moscow will push as far west as it reasonably and safely can. And that is very much a threat to U.S. national security. Stopping Russia in Ukraine, with Ukrainian troops doing the fighting and the U.S. providing weapons while waging a parallel economic war, is an efficient check on Russian ambition.
Stop Russia in Ukraine. Because Russia won't stop moving west until someone stops them. Luckily, Ukraine wants to stop Russia right now and right there. NATO should supply Ukraine to defeat Russia.
Or until Russia stops lying to itself and openly admits that the greatest threat to Russia lies in the east.
Mind you, I'm not saying the Russians are the only threat to American security from Europe. If we strengthen NATO we resist both Russia and the EU threat.
NOTE: War updates continue at this post.
