Cav's Place

Not that it hadn’t been blatantly obvious all along, but the way “the West” responded to Iran’s attack on Israel, even scrambling to get actively involved to protect the country that may well have the best defenses against missile and drone attacks in the world, while Ukraine is left to run out of air defenses while getting pounded, just underlined the striking and plain wrong difference in the support given to Israel and Ukraine. And the US Congress is set to rush a special law “dedicated” to Israel after putting off the aid package for Ukraine for months. And let me just discard any comments about any treaties or agreements that some might claim would require other countries to protect Israel, because there is one that should have guaranteed the security of Ukraine as well, and they even gave up their nuclear arsenal for it, but nobody cared! And Ukraine is not to blame in the least for what they’re going through, and what they’ve been going through for at least a decade, while things are quite different in case of Israel, and I’m not even just referring to the current stage of the war and its terrible toll on Palestinians. But, of course, “the West” doesn’t give a fuck about Palestinians.
Don’t get me wrong, Iran and its associated groups are a major, real and present threat and must be stopped. And, while its impact and area of interest are localized, Hamas is a terrorist organization that must also be stopped. But for Europe and NATO Russia is the worse problem, the bigger threat, by far! On top of the angry and threatening speeches, the support for armed groups, and the barrages of missiles, they started and are actively engaged in an ongoing war in Europe, a war that “the West” is currently all too willing to allow them to win, and they have already annexed territories. And this ongoing display of weakness emboldens them to become a real and present threat for EU and NATO countries directly, going past the “hybrid warfare” that they’re already engaged in and the control that they’re extending over politics and society.
To return to the actual wars started by Russia in Europe, this is hardly the first time it happens, the moment when this truly began, and which remains the one when Putin’s regime could and should have been stopped, being when Russia took what it wanted from Georgia. And let’s not forget Moldova’s situation with Transnistria either. And all of these things are happening when the countries in question are trying to get closer to “the West”, which then “rewards” them by letting them fend for themselves. The difference is that, this time, Ukraine was able to fight back, to some extent. And yes, that was in part thanks to the support that they did receive. But, even more so, it was thanks to their preparedness, determination and ingenuity, and to a president who unexpectedly proved himself to be a statesman of a level that the world probably hasn’t seen in decades. But all of that can only go so far when that support, which was completely inadequate to begin with, is drying up, and they’re left to face the world’s second military force, and a regime with a complete disregard for human life or rules of engagement. Or, in fact, for rules of any kind.
So, again, is it right to act to stop Iran and Hamas? Yes. Is it right to act to protect Israeli civilians, on their own territory? Again, yes. But it’s at least as right, and as required, to protect Ukrainians and their territory, in at least the same manner and with at least the same ferocity, if I may use the term. And the fact that it’s not happening doesn’t just display weakness before Russia, but also openly displays duplicity and hypocrisy before the rest of the world. And that’s made far, far worse by the fact that, despite occasionally expressing some “concerns”, that unwavering, “ironclad” support also extends to the Israeli military, which is now engaged in a war of conquest and which commits atrocities against Palestinians. And let’s not forget about the “civilian” Israeli settlers who have for so long committed their own atrocities against Palestinians… But it seems that even speaking out about these matters is a crime.