Wednesday, February 19, 2014

Situation: deteriorating, with people dying...


Situation: deteriorating, with people dying...  That's Ukraine right now, in a nutshell. The police and armed forces are attacking protesters, and over 20 died last nightReason has a good roundup.  The Wall Street Journal notes, disapprovingly, the absence of any effective intervention by the EU or US.

Americans have been struggling with how to respond to human rights outrages in foreign countries ever since the U.S. was founded.  There's a continuous spectrum of positions, from complete isolationism (no foreign involvement unless there's a direct threat to the U.S.) to being the world's policeman (intervening militarily every time a foreign government does something we don't like).  I struggle with this myself.  In this case, I don't think we should intervene militarily in Ukraine – but I do think we should be doing everything we can, covertly and overtly, to support the people fighting for their freedom.  I also think we should be doing everything we can to make life difficult for the supporters of the thugocracy there – mainly Vladimir Putin and his Russian thugocracy.  Unfortunately, That One's administration is doing virtually the opposite.

Well, what else would you expect from a would-be thugocrat with Hugo-envy?

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