It's time for some "spring cleaning," my Ukrainian sister-in-law texted me. This is a euphemism that normally peaceful people use to describe a military operation to retake territory; to "clean up" Russia's mess of death and destruction.
Once a "peaceful" person myself, I concur that a spring (now summer) cleaning is necessary. And, for the first time in my lifetime, I'm fully supportive of American military involvement. Their unwavering military support of Ukraine has been a bright spot for Ukrainians whose nationhood is at stake.
In this respect, I've become America’s biggest cheerleader. Who would have ever thought? My former 20-year-old self would kill me... Or at least write letters pleading for me to regain my sanity. How in the world did I become a supporter of the American military complex?
Don’t get me wrong, I still resent what the American military has come to symbolize. Responsible for senseless wars and death abroad, one sometimes wonders if they’re really making the world a safer place.
But then I look at Russia and China. I see autocrats in charge of nuclear weapons who make Donald Trump look unimaginably harmless. The threat of these military powers is real – just ask any citizen of Ukraine or Taiwan.
As Canadians, it's second nature to analyze the US to death, priding ourselves in their military failures. Yet they’re still our friends. We hope they won’t ever bomb us. And when times get tough, we’re more than likely to dust off our military gear and join them in combat, holding up the rear like we did in Afghanistan. We know how this war turned out, but after the horrors of 9/11, it felt like the only course of action.
Twenty years later, we still have no idea the destruction caused by the interventions in Iraq and Afghanistan. It’s ignorant and irresponsible – even in the case of Iraq where some form of stability appears to have taken place – to say the end justifies the means. Time and time again, the US has intervened on foreign lands with dire consequences.
Only a few have turned out to be justifiable based on recent history. The second world war is an obvious one. Imagine if Japan had never bombed Pearl Harbour, inciting the US to join the war – would the Nazi regime today be a modern European superpower?
We’ll never know. But we do know that countries like China and Russia pose a similar threat, with growing persecution of minorities (the Chinese Uyghurs are increasingly being treated like the Jews of Nazi Germany) and threats to overtake sovereign nations, as is happening in Ukraine.
There is a reason why the top US General, Mark Milly, sounded so defiant when asked recently about Chinese military dominance. In a press conference, he said the American military “is and will remain number one” about five times in one minute. It sounded rather Trumpy, but I get it. Chinese military dominance may not threaten the US directly, but it threatens a world power dynamic, putting at risk autonomous nations like Taiwan, South Korea and Japan. Even Vietnam is considered a potential American ally in the face of Chinese aggression.
Similarly, Ukraine’s existence as a sovereign nation is largely dependent upon American armaments. Should these stop, the war is effectively over. Ukraine will become a vassal state of Vladimir Putin’s autocratic “empire.” Friends and family we know would be potentially persecuted.
America’s military might has become invaluable to Ukrainians who value freedom; who now live in a country that is being destroyed. For once, America’s intervention looks measured (almost too measured) and justified. And unlike past American interventions, almost all European countries support it.
In contrast to wars in Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan, one can envision a narrative arising from this conflict that resembles that of the American Civil War or World War II: a battle to defeat evil, a modern-day David vs. Goliath. This motif plays well in a war to gain back one's country.
As a “peaceful” Canadian, I’ll try to temper my rah-rah enthusiasm for military retaliation against Russia, but trust me, it’s there.
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