Letter: Lackluster response of Western politicians to Ukraine is short-sighted

This letter is by Anya Tynio, of West Charleston.

Since the events of last week many people are hearing for the first time about the Ukrainian people’s fight against Russian tyranny. They are realizing for the first time how the Ukrainians refuse to be subjected to communist control of their nation. However this is hardly the first time that the Ukrainian people have had to fight for their freedom.

Since 1917 Ukraine resisted communist Russia, suffering immensely under the crippling oppression of the Soviet Union. After gaining independence in 1991, Russia continued to meddle in Ukrainian politics and work against their prosperity. Russia has always wanted to keep Ukraine under their control due to the natural resources and warm water ports that exist within the Ukrainian borders. It really boils down to the fact that Ukraine has valuable property that the Russians want. As is the classic communist way, Russia wants to take those valuables by force.

As an American of Ukrainian ancestry, I grew up listening to my relatives talk about how the Ukrainians suffered under Russian control — how they starved and froze, of the atrocities committed by the Russian soldiers, how members of my own family were murdered for resisting the Communists. My great grandparents immigrated to the United States to start a better life. They learned to speak English, got jobs in the coal mines and began farming. They became American citizens and fully embraced America. Many of my relatives served and continue to serve in the American armed forces. Their choice to come to America has created a better life for our family than would have been possible otherwise and I am extremely grateful for that. I also understand how hard it was for them to watch the decades of continued suffering in Ukraine. They never forgot where they came from or how valuable freedom was. They instilled in me an understanding of what living under communism was like, and I fully understand the Ukrainian people’s refusal to return to such horror.

It was a great benefit for me to hear about history from those who had lived it. While much of history is now changed to fit a political agenda, I was able to learn about it from firsthand accounts. Through this I recognized the neo-socialist movement in America and Europe was not new at all. It was the same exact ideology and tactics that had oppressed millions of people for decades. It is out of respect for my heritage and my love for America that I have and always will stand against the socialism in our nation.

It is incomprehensible that both President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris have stated that the United States will not support Ukraine militarily, but would do so for our allies. In both thought and action Ukraine has allied themselves with the free world and we could ask for no better a nation to stand with. The lackluster response of Western politicians to a nation’s plight for sovereignty and freedom is shockingly short-sighted. The world has an opportunity to provide substantial support for the Ukrainians in this fight and better enable them do a job that benefits all of us. Russia has threatened world aggression for decades and has now acted on their threats. Strength is the only response that will be successful. It is the only response they will respect. A Ukrainian victory would change the course of history as it pertains to Russia and such a change would be well worth our efforts.

In a time when liberty is being threatened, the Ukrainian people have reminded all of us how valuable it really is. Despite government response, people around the world now relate to Ukraine. They recognize the age-old story of good against evil, of freedom against oppression being played out yet again. As it is, I join hundreds of thousand others in prayer for a Ukrainian victory in this David versus Goliath fight. By the will of God, as it was in the Bible, they’ll be successful.

Anya Tynio
West Charleston

Image courtesy of Public domain

6 thoughts on “Letter: Lackluster response of Western politicians to Ukraine is short-sighted

  1. The only reason Russia attacked Ukraine is that Putin saw how weak Biden is. Biden talks like he’s a thug. He’s nothing but a liar. Just about everything that comes out of his mouth is a lie. The man is senile and should have been put away a long time ago. He is nothing but a hand puppet controlled by the deep swamp and Soro. Biden has no concept of how to do anything not even when he was a senator.
    President Volodymyr Zelensky told Biden “No I will not leave my country. I will stay and fight. I want ammo” While President Zelensky was fighting beside his people Biden went and hid in his Delaware basement where he always hid.
    Biden is still buying oil from Russia, according to his administration, he asked Putin to increase the amount of oil. So he’s paying Putin to invade Ukraine.!!!
    Anya Tynio… Thank you for telling us about your family history.. They knew what it was like to live under an communist/socialist nation and know how valuable a free nation is.. To many don’t.

  2. Others from the Ukraine and other historians are saying the current situation started after WW2. Some certain individuals of a certain belief system were aided by a 3-letter agency (Operation Paperclip.) The organization by the name of Azov Battalion and a meeting over there with Lindsay Graham, John McCain, and Amy Klobachar. John Kerry’s son, Joe Biden’s son, Mitt Romney’s son, Nancy Pelosi’s son all carried on some sort of business over there. 10% big guy Biden and that infamous video of removing the prosecutor investigating Hunter. American political corruption meddling in other countries is usually more Truthful and many people refuse to believe it.

  3. While there is a need to understand the past, there is also a need to focus on the present. The United States has, since the invasion, led our allies in creating sweeping economic sanctions against this brutal invasion with even longtime neutral Switzerland getting on board. At the same time military and economic aid has been pouring into Ukraine. In a time when there is the possibility of direct intervention resulting in a nuclear war, the United States has walked a fine line in what can and not be done.

    The fight largely rests with the heroic Ukrainian people. We should continue to provide support and continue to isolate Russia over Putin’s brazen breech of International Law. In ratcheting up the pressure this will likely mean a ban on Russian oil and gas imports, and we will feel the pain of higher energy prices. We should be willing to make some sacrifices given how much the Ukrainian people are sacrificing every day. We should also be willing in confronting Putin to put aside, for the moment, partisan differences on this one issue and work together as one nation confronting this tyrant seeking to restore the old borders of the Soviet Union.

    • “We should also be willing in confronting Putin to put aside, for the moment, partisan differences on this one issue and work together as one nation confronting this tyrant seeking to restore the old borders of the Soviet Union.”

      Is that really what this is about– Putin’s desire to restore Russia’s old borders? Or is it instead about the continuous expansion of NATO eastward over the decades and the clear agenda of the West to bring Ukraine into its orbit despite repeated statements by Russia that doing so was a red line? I don’t buy the narrative that this is all about bad man Putin and how could he thrust the world into a war after what we’ve been through for the past two years?

      In this presentation by Prof. Mearsheimer, his words (from minutes 4:00-15:00) refute the idea that this is all about Russian aggression. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ppD_bhWODDc

      It was almost as if the West wanted war. Maybe we need a lot more destruction before we can truly “build back better” into a world of total surveillance? It’s up to the West to de-escalate. As Mearsheimer says, doubling-down now and cornering Russia is a big mistake. Russia will likely flatten Ukraine. It will not accept defeat.

      OK, we can all be Ukrainians now. We can wear the appropriate colors and ban Russian vodka. We will fight to the last Ukrainian!! Won’t we? Who’s going to lose big time if this continues? Not the people in the West waving the flag and banning Russian vodka. Yet this is what everyone is rooting for at this point. When Ukraine gets flattened, we’ll sip our non-Russian vodka and complain about how sad it was and what a bad person Putin is. Question: preventable or not? What matters more, Ukraine or NATO expansion? The good people of Ukraine or the West “not backing down”? We’ve already given our answer: we’ll fight, by golly, to the last Ukrainian!! Because no one will dare help Ukraine with direct military intervention, what with Russian nuclear arms on alert and with the Chinese watching their back. Unless we really do want WWIII.

      The answer is de-escalation, not doubling down. Let’s stop pretending that all Ukraine has to do is stand strong with the West not-standing-strong-right-by-its-side. We will not set foot in Ukraine. The reality is stronger than the narrative about the reality.

  4. The game of chess, a game of strategy: The chess pieces represent countries; The queen is most powerful of all. If the queen does not play an active part in defending the lesser pieces she will, one by one, lose them. Unlike chess, they may then be used by the opponent. By abandoning our strategic position as an energy exporter, Joe deliberately blocked critical diplomatic leverage that Trump had given the queen. Without exception and time after time actions of the Biden administration have negatively affected this country. The consistency is too great for me not to think the predictable negative results are their intended goal. Their use of power is not subtle: Declaring parents who want a say in their children’s education as “domestic terrorists”? Having them investigated by the FBI? Cashiering trained career military personnel, depleting the strategic oil reserve (to compensate for crippling production) while Putin threatens nuclear warfare?

    • If the Biden administration wanted to prevent war, all it had to do was agree on Ukrainian neutrality. It did not, but instead insisted that Ukraine might be part of NATO. Did the Biden administration want war? It’s not “appeasement” to agree that Ukraine should be neutral. This will turn into an avoidable mess, probably what the administration wanted because it had to be clear to them how dangerous their stance might be.

      Putin has a new friend: China. So if the West decided to poke Russia in the eye, Putin might have decided it’s time to push back.

      This video is well-worth watching. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ppD_bhWODDc

      “The lackluster response of Western politicians to a nation’s plight for sovereignty and freedom is shockingly short-sighted.” There’s no way the US will get involved militarily. We knew that right from the start. If Zelensky had a background in geopolitics instead of comedy, he might have understood that. Ukraine is a bit player on a big stage, and to imagine that it alone has the right to determine its membership in NATO is naive.

      There’s no way Ukraine can win this. Peace doesn’t mean “appeasement,” it means recognizing Russia’s legitimate security concerns, but it’s probably too late now. Now Russia, aligned with China, will bring Ukraine to its knees and the the West will do nothing but proclaim how we’re all Ukrainians now and talk about what an evil person Putin is. The Biden administration will make no real effort at negotiation.

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