A short while before the Russian attack, a friend declared that Ukraine should not fight because it would surely be defeated. I replied, “I couldn’t disagree more.” As a historian, I know how important motivation is in wartime. The Ukrainians were fighting for their homes; the Russians were fighting because they were ordered to. And whether or not the Ukrainians win, surely their struggle has been impressive. Using what is available, they have slowed the Russian advance to the point where the Red Army is running out of food. The Ukrainians have, for instance, used glass beer bottles from the Russian brand to make Molotov cocktails, re-inscribing the labels to read “Fuck you, Russians.” They’ve removed all road signs and written the same on them.
As a result of their endeavors, most of the world supports them. Russia has become a pariah nation, shut off from banking, air travel, supplies, sports, and musical groups. There’s a saying that goes back to Ancient Greece: “It is better to die on your feet than live on your knees.” No one person has proved this more than Volodymyr Zelensky, the President of Ukraine. Before the current events, I remembered the Ukrainian support of the Nazis in World War II. But now they have a Jewish president and what a president! Asked if he wanted a trip out of his embattled nation, he said, “I want ammunition, not a ride.” There another old saying – that “God hates a coward.” Both Zelensky and the Ukrainians have been heroic rather than cowardly.
That is more than could be said for a number of Republicans, most notably Donald Trump, who asserted that Putin was “a genius” when he invaded Ukraine. For a while, some Republican commentators, like Tucker Carlson, supported him. So have Senator John Hawley of Missouri, and Representatives Marjorie Taylor Greene, Paul Gosar, Matt Rosendale, and Thomas Massie, all of whom voted in Congress against support for Ukraine. Now the Republican Party is back-peddling as fast as it can – except for Trump. It may loosen his grip on the GOP.
But regardless of U.S. politics, I believe that a Russian invasion of Ukraine cannot ultimately succeed. Suppose they occupy that nation. Will opposition and protest completely stop? I don’t believe it will. The cost of keeping innumerable Russian soldiers there, often against their will, plus the damage done by the other measures NATO and the United States have taken, have caused the ruble to plummet and the Russian stock market to close.
From its beginning to whatever its conclusion, this is a war fought with internet participation. The Russians cannot be secretive any longer. When it was revealed that the oligarchs who support Putin still had their yachts, those yachts were taken away. Russia has alienated most of the world and the Ukrainians have won its support.