In the Face of Terror

There are many details, and they are important — details such as the names of the victims. But one headline may say a lot: “Russia hammers Ukraine’s 2 largest cities with hypersonic missiles.” (For that report, from CBS News, go here.)

And here is something from the chief foreign-affairs correspondent of the Wall Street Journal:

It is easy to get numb to this (easy if you live thousands of miles from Ukraine). But it is important that one not. We should resist the temptation to grow numb to Putin’s war crimes: this murderous assault on people who simply want to live their lives, in their free and independent country.

There are many, many pictures of a bombarded, assaulted Kyiv (along with other Ukrainian cities, towns, and villages, of course). I think back to what the Heritage Foundation did, a few months ago. Beware such a maneuver.

A report from Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty says,

Poland has called for the West to respond to Russia after it launched two massive waves of deadly air attacks on Ukraine as Kyiv responded with its own strikes on Russian border regions and in Russia-occupied Crimea.

At least five people were killed and dozens wounded in Russian drone and missile strikes in and around Kyiv as well as Kharkiv on January 2 that Ukraine’s military said were similar in scale to a massive Russian attack just days earlier.

Radek Sikorski was Poland’s foreign minister from 2007 to 2014. He is in that position again.

Sikorski said the West needs to respond to the attacks “in a language that Putin understands: tightening sanctions so that he cannot make new weapons with smuggled components and giving Kyiv long-range missiles that will enable it to take out launch sites and command centers.”

Recently, a Dutch cabinet member spoke of giving Ukraine “whatever flies and can be delivered”:

One Baltic state has gotten creative: “Latvia Gives Ukraine 270 Vehicles Confiscated From Drunk Drivers.”

Not to worry: Alex Jones has assured us that Russia is not targeting civilians — in fact, Ukraine is.

One may laugh — but Jones is followed, and believed, by a great many Americans. He is influential. Recently, Elon Musk was chatting with him on X.

Hold that thought — the thought of Jones et al. The Wall Street Journal published an article about Nikolai Patrushev, whom the Journal describes as “Putin’s right-hand man.” Here is an excerpt:

Patrushev, 72, sees Russia locked in a struggle with the U.S., which he has said wants to steal Russia’s oil and minerals. He salts conspiracy theories into speeches and interviews. Earlier this year, he told Russia’s Izvestia newspaper that the U.S. is plotting to take over Russia because a massive volcanic eruption in Wyoming could soon make it uninhabitable.

I can’t help thinking: If this fellow came to America, he’d have a hit show in our media.

A message from the speaker of the House, whom Congressman Matt Gaetz and others affectionately call “MAGA Mike”:

If Putin heard Republicans such as Johnson talk this way, he’d laugh himself silly.

And yet, “Does Biden Want Ukraine to Win?” That is the heading over an article by Phillips P. O’Brien, in the Journal. Its subheading: “By not arming Kyiv for a long-range campaign against Russia, the U.S. seems to be forcing a deal.”

President Biden is criticized for doing too much; he is criticized for doing too little. The latter camp is right, in my view. Many people will oppose him no matter what he does. He might as well do the right thing, in the U.S. interest.

A final article — by Niall Ferguson, in Bloomberg Opinion: “The US and Europe Risk Flunking Geopolitics 101: A failure to stand by their commitments to Ukraine will cost them dearly in decades to come.”