None Of This Was Charity

Russia, despite a rickety economy and unsustainable manpower losses, is escalating this fight in an attempt to win through diplomacy -- pouring everything into a renewed effort to break the West's resolve because they can't break Ukraine's lines.  And Ukraine continues to hold at great cost.  If we falter now, the United States risks more than just a battlefield setback.  We risk sending a signal to adversaries and allies alike that America no longer has the stomach to stand with those who fight for freedom.  To give up now sends the message that we have no will to commit to our own national interests.

The history of diplomacy has many euphemisms for disengaging from a fight before the enemy: "ending wars," "retrenchment," "refocusing," "a decent interval," and so on.  The military has a simple word for it: surrender.

The past three U.S. administrations understood both the stakes and the complexity of supporting Ukraine.  They helped Ukraine take the difficult steps toward interoperability with NATO while provided critical military equipment and training.  Our policy and our delivery timelines weren't always perfect, but Republicans and Democrats agreed that a free, strong Ukraine in a position to defend itself was an asset to our security.  And Americans supported that approach.

None of this was charity -- it was strategic investment with deliberate attention to what we could provide without compromising our own readiness.  That took rigor, discipline, analysis, and more risk mitigation than almost anyone who doesn't work in the Pentagon will ever realize.  But it paid off.  Ukraine, once reliant on Soviet doctrine and gear, transformed its military structure and operational capability under fire while defending its sovereignty with courage, combat savvy, and increasing skill.

Ukraine is holding on.  Barely, but bravely.  Let's not make them hold on alone or for much longer.

-- Lt. Gen. Mark Hertling (Ret.), former commander of U.S. Army Europe, "If We Don't Stand With Ukraine, What Do We Stand For?" (7 July 2025)

Political Fortunes

Since January, the previously bipartisan U.S. Refugee Admissions Program in which we participate has essentially shut down.  Virtually no new refugees have arrived, hundreds of staff in resettlement agencies around the country have been laid off, and funding for resettling refugees who have already arrived has been uncertain.  Then, just over two weeks ago, the federal government informed Episcopal Migration Ministries that under the terms of our federal grant, we are expected to resettle white Afrikaners from South Africa whom the U.S. government has classified as refugees.

In light of our church’s steadfast commitment to racial justice and reconciliation and our historic ties with the Anglican Church of Southern Africa, we are not able to take this step.  Accordingly, we have determined that, by the end of the federal fiscal year, we will conclude our refugee resettlement grant agreements with the U.S. federal government. ...

It has been painful to watch one group of refugees, selected in a highly unusual manner, receive preferential treatment over many others who have been waiting in refugee camps or dangerous conditions for years.  I am saddened and ashamed that many of the refugees who are being denied entrance to the United States are brave people who worked alongside our military in Iraq and Afghanistan and now face danger at home because of their service to our country.  I also grieve that victims of religious persecution, including Christians, have not been granted refuge in recent months.

I have said before that no change in political fortunes alters our commitment to stand with the world’s most vulnerable people, and I want to reaffirm that promise.  While our public-private partnership as a refugee resettlement agency is no longer viable, we are hard at work on a church-wide plan to support migrants and refugees ...

-- The Most Reverend Sean W. Rowe, Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church, in an open letter, "Letter from Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe on Episcopal Migration Ministries" (12 May 2025)

What Comes After

What comes after is not always progress.

-- Alessandro Francesco Tommaso Manzoni (1785 - 1873), Italian novelist, poet, dramatist, and critic, "Del romanzo storico" (1850), in Andrea Tagliapietra (ed.) La storia e l'invenzione (Milano: Gallone, 1997) p. 64

New Bedfellows

Belarus                 Mali

Burkina Faso            Marshall Is.

Burundi                 Nicaragua

Central African Rep.    Niger

Equatorial Guinea       North Korea

Eritrea                 Palau

Haiti                   Russia

Hungary                 Sudan

Israel                  United States

-- Complete list of 18 countries that voted against a UN Resolution titled "Advancing a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in Ukraine", which passed with 93 votes in favor, on the third anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine (24 February 2025)

On The Truth

Mr. President, Ukraine did not "start" this war.  Russia launched an unprovoked and brutal invasion claiming hundreds of thousands of lives.  The Road to Peace must be built on the Truth.🇺🇸🇺🇦

"Russia Invades Ukraine in Largest European Attack Since WWII" @FoxNews (February 24, 2022) https://foxnews.com/world/russian-invades-ukraine-largest-europe-attack-wwii.amp

-- Former Republican Vice President Mike Pence, in a tweet responding to Donald Trump's false claim Wednesday that Ukraine started the current war with Russia (19 February 2025 11:54 AM)

NATO’s 75th Anniversary

In 2024, NATO celebrates 75 years of collective defence.

Since its creation on 4 April 1949, the transatlantic Alliance has grown from 12 founding members to 32 member countries, all working together to keep our people safe.  A community of Allies bound together by common values of democracy, individual liberty, human rights and the rule of law, NATO celebrates its anniversary on 4 April at NATO Headquarters in Brussels and at the upcoming summit on 9-11 July in Washington, D.C., where its founding treaty was signed. 

-- Statement on the website of NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) on the occasion of NATO's 75th anniversary, 4 April 2024

Sweden Joins NATO

Since Thursday last week Sweden is a proud member of NATO.  The most successful organisation for peace and security that has ever existed.  We are now an ally amongst allies.  After more than 200 years of military non-alignment, this is a historic step. 

But also, a very natural step.  We have been preparing for decades.  And in details the last two years.  With this membership, Sweden has come home. 

Home to the security cooperation of democracies.  Home to the security cooperation of our good neighbours. 

Today, I'd like to say thank you to all of our Allies.  We have chosen you, and you have chosen us.  All for one, one for all. ...

Sweden will be a safer country in NATO, and NATO will be a stronger alliance with Sweden in it.

By joining NATO, Sweden -- like Finland just before us -- has exercised our right to freely choose our own security arrangements. 

That invaluable right is at the core of the European security order -- so bravely being defended in Ukrainian battlefields, as we meet here in Brussels. ...

Sweden joining NATO is not the end of something -- it's a beginning.  I look forward to help making the world a safer and freer place together with all of our Allies.

-- Speech by Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson at a ceremony in Brussels to mark Sweden joining NATO, 11 March 2024

Every Single One

Every argument against this is wrong.  Every single one of them.   Most of the money's being spent here.  Europeans have done as much, and, after the $55 billion from the EU, more than we have.  Not a single American soldier has lost their lives in this fight -- we've got a bunch of people willing to kill Russians.  I can't find any argument against this that makes any sense.

-- Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), in an interview on CNN regarding a bi-partisan Senate bill providing more funding to Ukraine which is being blocked by Republicans in the House of Representatives (14 February 2024)

Debacle

A major power can afford a military debacle only when it looks like a political victory.

-- Friedrich Dürrenmatt (1921 - 1990), Swiss author and dramatist, Portrait of a Planet (1971)

Thirty-First

After thorough debates across their whole societies and with large parliamentary majorities supporting the decision, Finland and Sweden simultaneously handed their official letters of application to join NATO over to NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on 18 May 2022.  NATO Heads of State and Government extended an invitation to Finland and Sweden to join the Alliance at the Madrid Summit on 29 June 2022.  The accession protocols for both countries were signed on 5 July 2022 after completion of accession talks.  The protocols must now be ratified by all Allies, according to their national procedures.  

As of 4 April 2023, Finland becomes the 31st member of NATO and the NATO PA.

As it has done with past accessions, the NATO PA is monitoring and encouraging prompt ratification of Sweden's accession in Allied parliaments.

-- NATO Parliament Assembly on Ratification of Finland and Sweden's Accession to NATO, updated 4 April 2023

ICC Arrest Warrants

Today, 17 March 2023, Pre-Trial Chamber II of the International Criminal Court ("ICC" or "the Court") issued warrants of arrest for two individuals in the context of the situation in Ukraine: Mr Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin and Ms Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova.

Mr Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, born on 7 October 1952, President of the Russian Federation, is allegedly responsible for the war crime of unlawful deportation of population (children) and that of unlawful transfer of population (children) from occupied areas of Ukraine to the Russian Federation (under articles 8(2)(a)(vii) and 8(2)(b)(viii) of the Rome Statute).  The crimes were allegedly committed in Ukrainian occupied territory at least from 24 February 2022.

[T]he Chamber considered that it is in the interests of justice to authorise the Registry to publicly disclose the existence of the warrants, the name of the suspects, the crimes for which the warrants are issued, and the modes of liability as established by the Chamber.

-- International Criminal Court, in a press release, "Situation in Ukraine: ICC judges issue arrest warrants against Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin and Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova", 17 March 2023

Small Again

Make russia small again.

-- Ministry of Defense of Ukraine posting as @DefenceU on Twitter, 24 January 2023

Look At Them Each Time

I really do not want my pictures in your offices, for the President is not an icon, an idol or a portrait.  Hang your kids' photos instead, and look at them each time you are making a decision.

-- Volodymyr Zelenskyy (1978 -), in his Inaugural Address as President of Ukraine, 20 May 2019

Causal Role

Generally, people have been very resistant to attributing a causal role in history to stupidity.

-- John Kenneth Galbraith (1908 - 2006), Canadian-American economist and author, Washington Post interview (1994)

Wars Cannot Be Fought

As a military man who has given half a century of active service I say in all sincerity that the nuclear arms race has no military purpose.  Wars cannot be fought with nuclear weapons.  Their existence only adds to our perils because of the illusions which they have generated.  There are powerful voices around the world who still give credence to the old Roman precept -- if you desire peace prepare for war.  This is absolute nuclear nonsense.

-- Louis Francis Albert Victor Nicholas George Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma KG, GCB, OM, GCSI, GCIE, GCVO, DSO, PC (1900 - 1979), British admiral and statesman, Speech in Strasbourg (11 May 1979), quoted in The Times (8 March 1980), p. 13

Do Not Get Used To it

I really want the whole world, and Americans as well, not to get used to this war.  Yes, it is far from you, it lasts long, and you can get tired of it, but please do not get used to it, because if everyone gets used to it, this war will never end.  Don't get used to the pain. 

-- Olena Volodymyrivna Zelenska (1978 -), Ukrainian screenwriter who is the current First Lady of Ukraine as the wife of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Interview for the American TV channel ABC (7 June 2022)

In The End

War: first, one hopes to win; then one expects the enemy to lose; then, one is satisfied that the enemy too is suffering; in the end, one is surprised that everyone has lost.

-- Karl Kraus (1874 - 1936), Austrian journalist, satirist, aphorist, and poet, Die Fackel no. 46 (9 October 1917)

A Struggle

Now we are at ground zero as regards the world we need to build.  A world of respect for international law, the UN Charter, and the power of multilateralism.  A world where civilians have protection.  Where human rights are a priority.  Where leaders live up to the declared values they have committed to.  It is also a struggle, but we must win it for the sake of every country, community, and person around the world.

-- António Manuel de Oliveira Guterres (1949 -), ninth United Nations Secretary General, former Prime Minister of Portugal (1995 to 2002) and United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (2005 to 2015), as quoted in "Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with the UN Secretary-General in Kyiv" (28 April 2022)

Environment Of Urgency

Implications of wartime operations for global cybersecurity

The dynamic nature of the armed conflict will introduce a level of uncertainty not seen since the annexation of Crimea in 2014.  As the war progresses, actors with a vested interest in the conflict will operate under increasingly urgent requirements to fill critical intelligence gaps and achieve specific tactical objectives.  How cyber operators choose to meet these requirements may pose significant risk to the global cybersecurity landscape.

We assess that such an environment of urgency may incentivize the use of sensitive capabilities that will allow threat actors to gain assured access to networks or manipulate aspects of information systems to achieve strategic objectives.  Highly reserved capabilities such as zero-days, critical infrastructure attacks, supply-chain attacks, and other novel techniques will almost-certainly be showcased in the medium-term. 

-- Tom Burt, Corporate Vice President, Customer Security & Trust at Microsoft, The hybrid war in Ukraine, 27 April, 2022 

We Have All Seen

We have all seen the atrocities that have been committed in Bucha and other places in Ukraine.  This reveals the true nature of President Putin's war, and the targeting and killing of civilians is a war crime and therefore, NATO allies are supporting the international efforts to establish all the facts, to investigate, and to make sure that perpetrators are punished.  We are now in a critical phase of the war.  We see that Russia is moving forces out of the north to reinforce them, to resupply them, to rearm them and then to move them into the east where we are expecting a major offensive.  President Putin's aim is to try to control the whole of Donbas and to establish a land bridge [...].  We have seen no indication that President Putin has changed his ambition to control the whole of Ukraine and also to rewrite the international order.  So we need to be prepared for the long haul.  We need to support Ukraine, sustain our sanctions, and strengthen our defences and our deterrence, because this can last for a long time and we need to be prepared for that.

-- NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg in a statement ahead of the meeting of NATO Ministers of Foreign Affairs, 6 April 2022