By William S. Lind, Traditional Right

Throughout the Western world, everybody is rooting for plucky Ukraine. It is the classic story of David and Goliath, and who ever rooted for Goliath? Russia had no reason to invade Ukraine. Ukraine does not qualify for membership in NATO, nor can it do so as long as it has a border dispute with Russia, which it always will. The brutality of the Russian army has made the good vs. evil nature of the war even more apparent. Ordinary people here in Cleveland are flying Ukraine flags, contributing to funds set up to help Ukrainian refugees and welcoming more Ukrainians to a city that already has a lot of them. And it should; Ukrainians are exactly the kind of people America needs more of. We should take as many as want to come.

But. . .

Foreign policy should never be based on emotions, however understandable the emotions may be. By their nature, foreign relations are amoral. That’s what Machiavelli is all about. If they are to attain the objective they desire, they must be calculated purely on the basis of interests. America’s interests in the Russian-Ukrainian war dictate that Russia not be defeated too badly.

At the outset, a Russian defeat seemed impossible. But the Russian army has performed so badly that its outright defeat now appears likely. Outright defeat means not only that Russia fails to take and hold all of Ukraine, but that she loses everything she held before the invasion began, including all of the Donbas and Crimea. Again, let me say what everyone will hate: such a defeat for Russia is not in America’s interest.

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