Why We Should Support Ukraine Against Putin’s Genocidal War

As the Republican Party moves further toward the extreme right by embracing such figures as congressman Marjorie Taylor Greene who calls for the overthrow of the government, Biden made a successful trip to the war zone in Ukraine. Biden’s trip to Ukraine signaled a shift in US foreign policy in Eastern Europe. In WW11, the primary goal was protecting western democracies against Nazism. Today the primary goal is to protect eastern democracies against Vladimir Putin efforts to re-institute the Soviet Union which was officially called the Union of Soviet Socialist Republic (USSR). The USSR spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. Moscow serves as the capitol and was the most populous republic. The USSR expanded under the leadership of Joseph Stalin during WW11 which started in 1939 and lasted until 1945. Stalin suspected that Hitler might attack the USSR after carving up the Balkans states. He developed an appeasement strategy which was designed to give him time to produce enough weapons to protect the Soviet state against Germany and other superpowers. He also used the opportunity to expand into the Balkan areas of Eastern Europe. Based on his understanding of Marxism, he felt that the internal contradictions within the capitalist state would eventually topple western powers and the Soviet Union would then be able to expand its influence into western Europe. In August 1939, Stalin’s foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov, negotiated the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact which was a non-aggression Pact between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. It enabled the two countries to partition Eastern Europe between them. It was also referred to as the Hitler-Stalin Pact. A week later, Hitler invaded Poland and France and Britain declared war on Germany. On September 17, the Red Army moved into Poland to restore order after the collapse of the state. On September 28, Germany and the Soviet Union divided up their newly conquered territories. Germany gained the linguistically Polish-dominated areas of Lubin Province and parts of Warsaw, while the soviets gained Lithuania. The two powers signed a German-Soviet Frontier treaty after the invasion. The Soviet used the treaty to undermine and frustrate British’s attempts to attack Germany. In November of 1939, the Soviets demanded that they be given parts of Eastern Finland and the government refused. The Finns took up arms against the Red Army. The Red Army became bogged down in Finland and was defeated. On the March 12, 1940, the war which lasted for 105 days ended when the Finns signed an interim peace treaty which ceded part of Northern Finland to the Soviets. In June of 1940, the Soviet occupied the Baltic states and forcibly merged them into the Soviet Union. In August they invaded and annexed Bessarabia and northern Bukovina and Romania Stalin was surprise about how fast Hitler defeated the French. He continued his appeasement policy with Germany to buy more time before Hitler decided to attack the Soviet Union. In October Germany signed a Tripartite Pact with Japan and Italy. In April of 1941, Stalin signed a neutrality pact with Japan to demonstrate their peaceful intentions toward Germany. After around a decade, the relationship with Germany had deteriorated to such an extend that Stalin replaced ambassador Molotov as premier of the Soviet Union. Despite warning from the western allies that Germany was going to invade the Soviet Union, Stalin ignored their warning. In June of 1941, Hitler invaded the Soviet Union. Stalin formed the State Defense Committee and became Supreme Commander over it. The German army was so effective, the Soviet Air force in the western borderlands was destroyed in two days. The Germans Wehrmacht pushed deep into Soviet territory. Ukraine, Byelorussia, and the Baltic states were now under German occupation and the Soviets were fighting to hold on to Leningrad. Germany had the entire city surrounded. Britain and the US formed an alliance with the Soviet Union to defeat Russia, but the US did not enter the war until 1941. Very little aid reached the Soviets before they entered the war. The United States had an unwritten strategy which focused on Germany defeating the Soviet Union before joining the war effort. They decided that this was a dangerous strategy because it might put Western Europe at risk if Germany defeated the Soviet Union. Between 1942-1945, the allies were able to turn the tide in the war and the Soviets were able to lift the seize on Leningrad. Before the war ended, the Soviet Union lost 20 million of its citizens trying to defend Leningrad. Today, Vladimir Putin is attempting to re-constitute the old Soviet State. He refuses to recognize the independence of Ukraine and other Balkan states because they were once a part of the old Soviet State. His strategy is to weakened liberal democracies around the world while engaging in military campaigns to bring many of the Baltic republics back under the influence of Russia. Here in the US, many right-wing extremist and racist movements associated with the Republican Party are consciously or unconsciously undermining our policies which support Eastern Europe. While fighting against fascism and racism here at home, we must support Ukraine and the Balkan states in their efforts to protect their territorial sovereignty. See less Comments

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