And, while you’re all in a clappin’ mood, I don’t see a bright outcome for the Ukraine situation. Don’t misunderstand, I support Ukraine and the provision of aid to it. Have done since day one. But I don’t think that throwing money at the problem is getting it done (as I said it wouldn’t, since day one). What I’ve seen for two years is a heroic holding action, through no fault of Ukraine’s, but simply due to the disparities between Ukraine and Russia. Russia can send fresh fodder into it for years to come. Ukraine cannot. The same guys who started their defensive war are going to have to finish it. And the West refuses to give them the offensive capabilities to take the fight to their antagonist, which is what will be required to force Russia to stop the war.

I believe that as a generality the international community, particularly those who still consider themselves power players, needs to move away from arms ‘trading.’ I would go so far as to say that it needs to become a crime to profit from the creation or the transfer of a weapon. They should be made by states for defensive need, and for no other reason. They should be controlled in the same way nuclear weapons are controlled. But, more to the point for what we’re talking about right now, throwing money at this problem will not solve it. Weapons are useless if there aren’t enough rested men and women to use them. Spending trillions on a proxy war only enriches the people selling the weapons for transfer and bankrupts the state paying for them. It does not win the war. That requires the antiquated, novel solution of actually going to a place and fighting for it.

Ukraine can’t save the U.S. and Europe by itself. The U.S. and Europe need to either get more deeply involved in the conflict or accept a Russian victory.