Time for Lend-Lease and a Ukraine Airlift

David Bernell

 

 

Russia’s war in Ukraine gets worse by the day, by the hour. If nobody stops him, Vladimir Putin will seek to utterly destroy Ukraine and its people in his effort to take the country. And he will take as long as he needs to get the job done.

 

A stronger response is needed. The United States, NATO, and the EU should not put themselves in a position where they are willing to fight only as far as the last Ukrainian.

 

The part of me that studies and teaches international relations, that appreciates the “Realist” thinking in foreign policy which counsels caution and restraint unless vital national interests are threatened, that calls for the avoidance of morality as a basis for action – that part of me says not to call for rash actions. The part of me that sees the horror of Ukrainian suffering, the depravity of Putin, and the inspiring example of President Zelensky – that part of me says it’s past time to act with greater strength to stop this tragedy unfolding before our eyes.

 

Maybe, however, these two views come together in this case.

 

The NATO alliance does not include Ukraine, but this is where the war against democracy and freedom is being fought. This is where Russia’s war for empire is taking place.

 

Putin has already, in effect, told the world his aims through his words and deeds. He has said that Ukraine isn’t a real state, that the fall of the Soviet Union was a great geopolitical catastrophe. He has sent troops to Georgia, Kazakhstan, Belarus, and of course, Ukraine – twice – to take territory, support separatist movements, prop up allied leaders (and make them further dependent on him), and now, to claim all of Ukraine.

 

The world has a good idea of what Putin intends to do. He’s been emboldened because he has always succeeded in extending Russian power and influence (and his own). And he will continue to do so until he is pushed back. When has an aggressive expansionist power, in the wake of military success, convinced of the rightness of its cause, ever voluntarily given up and stopped its aggression and expansion?

 

There is no reason to wait until we are even more horrified by the sight of the Ukrainian people suffering. There is no reason to wait until we belatedly realize that Ukraine isn’t enough for Putin. There is no reason to wait until the costs to the rest of Europe, NATO and the United States will be even higher. Is there any doubt that other parts of the former Soviet Union are next in Putin’s sights?

 

On the other hand, the fear that the US and NATO have of provoking a wider war, or at its worst, a nuclear war, is warranted and understandable. The world cannot risk the possibility of the United States and Russia directly confronting one another on the battlefield. However, we should not be self-deterring.  

 

It’s time to arm the Ukrainians with the planes – Polish MiGs, American fighter jets – and other military hardware they need to defend themselves. Give them a chance to fight back, to clear the airspace, to get the Russian planes out of the sky, to slow or stop the advancing Russian troops on the ground.

 

At the same time, NATO should deliver humanitarian aid to the besieged civilians under fire. Today the bombing of a maternity hospital in Mariupol further demonstrated further the boundless brutality of Putin. When I read and watch the news tomorrow there will be another tragedy.

 

Delivering humanitarian aid will be risky. The United States would have to clearly announce its intentions, warn the Russians not to interfere, and then continue – 24/7 – to fill the skies with American aircraft to deliver aid to the Ukrainian people.

 

We know what it looks like to help a people being threatened militarily, being cut off from the rest of the world, being denied a chance to survive, and in so doing, stop the brutal violence of a government that has revealed itself as a gang of war criminals.

 

Americans have conducted these operations in the past. We called one “Lend-Lease.” We called another “The Berlin Airlift.” The historical parallels are not exactly the same. They rarely (or never) are. But the concept is similar. Perhaps we also need the right vocabulary to muster the will to save the Ukrainians, and prevent the chain of contingencies that will, without stronger action, undoubtedly threaten the rest of Europe, and with it the United States.