To deny Ukraine aid is to deny the humanity of Ukrainians

Professor of political science at Northeastern University and author of Rules for Rebels: The Science of Victory in Militant History, Max Abrahm wrote a piece for The Atlantic entitled I Teach International Relations. I Think We’re Making a Mistake in Ukraine. He argues for not arming Ukraine. His points are more coherent than the cranks who would rather support Russia, but are ultimately just as flawed.

First he argues that Russia had "geopolitical apprehension" about the expansion of NATO. I have no doubt that NATO's expansion made Russia uncomfortable. Russia has been invaded by Western Europe in the past. Abrahm skips a step here though: how this justifies Russian invasion of Ukraine, a non-NATO country.

Every country on Earth has been invaded by its neighbors at some point in history. That doesn't mean they get to seize territory to create a buffer zone.

An example of a country that has been frequently invaded by its neighbors is Poland. Today Poland is a member of NATO, a security alliance that includes Germany, a frequent historical enemy. How did this come to pass? Did Germany demand Poland join NATO under the threat of another invasion? Did America strong arm the Poles to become part of the alliance in order to encircle Russia for an eventual invasion? No, of course not. The Poles leapt at the chance to join NATO because they feared that Russia might one day press them to become part of some kind of Soviet Union 2. These concerns are reasonable.

Keep in mind that none of this was inevitable. Poland used to be in the Warsaw Pact, an alliance designed to protect members from Western European invasion. Again, Western European invasion was historically a very real threat. The fact Poland ditched this club for NATO at the first chance they got, Russia has no one to blame for that but themselves.

Abrahm next goes after commentators who have said letting Russia have Ukraine would be akin to attempts at appeasement with Hitler prior to WWII. He states "analogies are generally chosen based on their salience rather than their contemporary relevance." Well, OK, but you know this isn't the first time Putin has invaded a neighbor, right? He attacked Georgia in 2008 and seized Crimea in 2014. He's also sent paramilitary forces to the Central African Republic and Syria. Abrahm is basically saying "Just because Putin started this war doesn't mean he'll start another." And... we're just past that point.

The better WWII analogy according to Abrahm is how America dropped nuclear bombs on Japan to intimidate the Soviet Union. According to Abrahm today America is funding Ukraine to intimidate China, to show them how difficult we can make an invasion of Taiwan for them. To this I say: I wish you were right. Because then maybe Biden would stop trying to "boil the frog" and give Ukraine the hardware it needs to deliver a definitive defeat to Russia.

Next Abrahm says that in trying to deter Russia we're actually provoking them. Again, we're already past that. We're not trying to deter them from starting a war, because the war is already happening.

Abrahm's last point is about figuring out the best way to protect Ukrainian civilians. It's nice to see he gives them some consideration. He says that arming Ukraine will just drag the war out longer, making Russia more desperate and lead to more civilian victimization. So paradoxically, not arming Ukraine will actually save lives.

I feel like this guy has been watching a different war than I have. The Bucha massacre happened one month into Russia's invasion. There were hardly any Western arms in the country at that time. The soldiers of the supposed second greatest army in the world were fresh at that point. This happened because they have a culture of brutality. "...[Russia's] military still has a brutal hazing system known as dedovshchina, a notorious tradition that encourages senior conscripts to beat, brutalize or even rape younger conscripts." There's no getting Russia to play nice. That's just not who they are.

Abrahm gives a lot of consideration to Russia's concerns, but none to Ukraine's. Does Ukraine want to be a puppet state of Russia? Does Ukraine have a legitimate interest in joining NATO? Should Ukraine have a say in how the war ends? None of these questions are addressed.

Here's a reminder of some of the people of Ukraine, who are fighting for their homeland.

Down with the empire. Slava Ukraini.