Ukraine's Alamo moment

We have been engaged in nation-building most of my life, trying to bring democracy to failing nations whose people had little understanding of liberty, much less any interest in becoming a "free people." But the plight of the Ukrainians seems eerily familiar to our unique history, a haunting similarity to our beginnings.

In 2014, tens of thousands of Ukrainians stood in Kyiv's Independence Square in defiance of the long arm of Moscow's authoritarianism. Determined to throw off the shackles of communism, they dawned their new coat of democratic nationalism and tied their fate and fortunes to the trappings of free people. Grasping liberty by the hand, they purged the Russian-installed puppet master and began their journey, gathering inalienable rights for all Ukrainians along the way.

In retaliation for this act of defiance, Putin sent his army into Crimea and annexed the area. And what did Frick and Frack, aka the feckless duo of Biden and Obama do to support the Ukrainians from Russia's armed invasion? They sent the Ukrainian freedom fighters blankets. That's right, blankets, not missiles, or rifles, or even bullets, they sent blankets!

Ukraine, for the moment, is still an autonomous nation striving to live up to the expectations and principles of democratic countries. Not a perfect union by all means, but certainly aiming to be a more perfect union, nonetheless. But this may be coming to an end as Moscow's mechanized hordes from hell are descending on Kyiv to crush any resistance, quell their independence, and place Ukrainians back in the Kremlin's chains.

Putin intends to uproot this fledgling democracy, by any means necessary, before it becomes a beacon of liberty at his southwestern border. His ambitions will return Ukraine to a dreary place where the textures of colors are always missing from the landscape of life, where despair shapes every day, and the malaise of communism suffocates individual rights in every way.

Meanwhile, the Biden administration has been suspiciously slow-walking any aid to Ukraine. After repeated requests for assistance, President Volodymyr Zelensky's calls for arms and ammunition from Biden have mostly gone unanswered. Perhaps Biden is captivated by the wealth he and his family have amassed, selling their political influence on the open market to Russian and Ukrainian oligarchs? Or does this demonstrate Biden's historical pattern of inaction in times of crisis? Instead of inspiring bold actions and initiating formative détente, he seems hopelessly inept, paralyzed by political calculations.

As of this letter, there appears to be little hope that Ukraine will remain a sovereign state and not be swallowed by this beast that Putin has released. I realize not all conservatives agree, certainly not the carping castrati at Fox News who aimlessly squeal that "Ukraine's Alamo moment" is not worth risking war. But I ask you, is their cause not ours to bear and ours to share? Are we not instinctively called to their plight as the moth is drawn to the flickering of a candle's light? Are the Ukrainians unworthy of our inalienable rights and undeserving of America's might?

Dave Maynard