OPINION: Red Lines and Chutzpah

“Chutzpah.” There is no better word to describe and encapsulate the behavior, nearsightedness, arrogance and shameless rhetoric of the US regarding its assistance to the Ukrainian war effort.

While the aid has stopped, the “chutzpah” persists. The current “red lines” coming out of the White House are simply more than the Ukrainians can take. Societal dismay, to the point of anger, has become pervasive in Ukraine. President Volodymyr Zelensky has certainly been more diplomatic than his people.

There have been a great many manifestations of US arrogance and ignorance during the more than two years of Russia’s full-scale invasion. This ingrained ignorance is a several generations’ old and almost inveterate affliction dating back to the 1940s, known as appeasement.

US President Joe Biden is a nice guy, but his refrain, “this is not who we are” is tiresome and not convincing. The rude and abrasive Marjorie Taylor Greene, the hillbilly J. D. Vance and the hypocritical Lindsey Graham are all symptomatic representatives of their constituents. For his part, Donald J. Trump is more aberrational on a national level since Americans are generally good people. Judaeo-Christian values still predominate in America, although these so-called values often serve as excuses for hypocrisy.

In the contemporary situation, the US could argue that it had the right to display arrogance and purported superior military acumen and experience because it was Ukraine's most important and benevolent benefactor and the leader of the Free World. As a result, it limited geographically and strategically the use by Ukraine of US weaponry. This has included specific and advanced weapons, instructing Ukraine that it simply did not need them.

In this instance, the US was proven wrong more often than not. American military leadership often made strategic recommendations as to how Ukraine should conduct the war, which was arrogant to say the least.

All of this was inappropriate but justifiable to the Ukrainians since the weapons were American. Furthermore, the Ukrainians generally paid little or no attention to US military strategy, knowing that they (the Ukrainians) knew better. Nevertheless, the Ukrainians did respect one US redline – they did not use American weapons beyond Ukrainian territory.

More recently, Ukraine has increased its strategic bombing of Russian energy refineries and weapons manufacturing and storage facilities using Ukrainian made weaponry. In view of a tremendous dearth of ammunition, Ukraine has developed greatly its own defense industry. 

Nonetheless, the US, specifically the White House and the State Department, have criticized these recent bombings, arguing that it risks imploding the scope of the war and, of more immediate concern, increasing global energy prices. Ukraine has been silent, instead of telling the US to mind its own business. 

The US has fallen into governmental chaos, mainly caused by Republicans in Congress, but also due to the inability of the current Democratic administration to navigate through this chaos. Setting red lines for Ukraine without appreciable assistance under these circumstances is “chutzpah.”

Ukraine has manifested an exemplary ability to work with what it has, as well as great creativity and wherewithal. Ukraine manufactures its own long-range air and sea drones reaching St. Petersburg, Moscow and well into the Black Sea so that the western part of the sea has been open for grain transport. Europe has been of much assistance. The UK has helped the Ukrainians develop weaponry in Ukraine. Some European leaders have suggested putting European boots on Ukrainian ground even if only for training or mine decommissioning purposes.

Psychotic former Russian president Dmitri Medvedev has stated that the Russians would kill those NATO auxiliaries first. That would certainly bring NATO into the war. The US would then have to get involved and so American soldiers would be dying on the Ukrainian steppes.

Ironically, this may prove to be the tragic cure for American governmental chaos, isolationism and “chutzpah.”

The views expressed are the author’s and not necessarily of Kyiv Post.