November 20, 2024
It’s Time For Us To Stop Squandering It.
Our leaders need to match their rhetoric with action.
It’s now over 1000 days since Russia invaded Ukraine.
In that time, Ukraine has paid a massive price for having the courage to resist the fascist Russian regime:
Unfortunately, many in the West fail to understand the scale of what Ukraine has managed to achieve, and many fail to understand how much we have benefitted from Ukraine’s courage.
Remember, Russia is a hostile nation. They are led by a regime that wants to overturn the liberal democratic world order. Russia wants Canada, the United States, and our allies to be weaker.
What does that mean for you?
If Russia were to get it’s way, every free nation would be isolated and vulnerable. We would all be much poorer, as international trade would be a fraction of what it is today. To survive without alliances, we would have to spend at least 5% of GDP on our military (and possibly even more).
If you think life is expensive now, imagine what the cost-of-living would be like if global trade collapsed and we were forced into a full war economy…
Additionally, we would face the constant threat of terror attacks and internal division, with our citizens manipulated into hating each other rather than focusing on external threats.
This is already starting to happen, but it can still be stopped.
And it can still be stopped because Ukrainians are fighting back.
Russia has taken immense casualties in Ukraine, and have run down a huge portion of their pre-war stocks of Soviet-era equipment.
Remember, that Soviet-era equipment was meant to be used against NATO countries – including Canadian soldiers. Instead, much of that equipment no longer exists, because Ukraine’s brave defenders destroyed it.
This is why the current anti-Ukraine narrative pushed by many on the far-left and far-right is not only morally reprehensible but also completely backwards.
You’ll notice that critiques of aiding Ukraine always talk as if we are doing Ukraine a favour by providing weapons, but they never mention what Ukraine is doing for us.
The reality is that the Ukrainian People are the ones doing the free world a favour, by resisting Russia and grinding down their stocks of military equipment.
Without any foreign boots on the ground, Ukraine is facing off against an enemy that would – if it was capable of it – seek to rebuild the Soviet Union through a brutal campaign of conquest across Europe, which would draw in nations like Canada and the United States.
Had Russia rolled over Ukraine and incorporated even a fraction of Ukraine’s manpower and military production capacity, we could be facing down WW3 in Europe.
Essentially, we should be the ones thanking the Ukrainian People for holding off Russia, rather than expecting the Ukrainian People to thank us for providing them with weapons.
Ukraine has bought us time. But we’re squandering it.
While the rhetoric of many Western leaders regarding Ukraine has been laudable, actions have not always matched up.
In the 1000+ days since Russia invaded Ukraine, many of our leaders have failed to take advantage of the fact that Russia was bogged down in Ukraine, and have failed to provide the level of support Ukraine needs.
For example, countries like Canada should have immediately ramped up artillery shell production after Russia’s invasion began. This would have enabled us to both replenish our own stocks, and provide more assistance to Ukraine.
But this was not done.
We also should have formed partnerships with companies like Germany’s Rheinmetall to build tank factories in Canada while investing in military recruitment and R&D.
Furthermore, the Prime Minister should have addressed the nation and explained to Canadians that we were in a different world now, a world where credible military power is a necessity, not a luxury.
But again, this was not done.
Over and over again, our leaders – along with the leaders in many Western nations – spoke as if we were in an existential battle while acting as if it was business as usual.
This has come at a cost.
Russia – despite taking massive casualties – is continuing to ramp up its military industry.
China is engaged in the world’s largest military build-up since WW2.
North Korea is sending troops to fight on Russia’s side against Ukraine, and has provided Russia with more artillery shells than North America & Europe combined have sent to Ukraine.
Iranian drones are being utilized by Russia, and China-Russia economic cooperation is keeping Russia’s overheating war economy afloat.
Our enemies are gearing up for a long and brutal war, while many of us in the West pretend nothing is going on.
Our enemy gets a vote
This is where it is essential for us to shed our naivety and our narcissim. We have long lived in a world where the West could almost singlehandedly dictate the course of events, and this has led us to forget that our enemy gets a ‘vote’ in the direction of world events.
You’ll often hear people say they ‘don’t want war,’ as if that magically undoes Russia & China’s massive military build up. People will say they ‘support peace,’ as if that stops Vladimir Putin & Xi Jinping from dreaming of wars of imperial conquest.
The fact is that it if our enemies want war, it ultimately doesn’t matter what we want. It just takes one side to start a war, and once a war is under way, the only choice is whether to surrender or fight.
We simply cannot afford to indulge in magical thinking. We can’t pretend that repeating ‘I don’t want war’ as some sort of mantra is anything other than a naive attempt to evade the rising threats we face and pretend all is well against all evidence.
So long as Russia and China – and their proxy regimes like Iran and North Korea – are led by people who desire war and conquest, we must recognize that peace may not be in the cards for us in the coming years.
Ukraine’s courage – along with Israel’s resolve in fighting Iran-backed terror groups – has given us the chance to finally wake up and start building up our military strength.
Along with continuing to provide military aid, this is the best way for us to show gratitude to the brave Ukrainian People. They have shown the courage to fight for their freedom, and we must ensure we have the capacity to do the same.
Spencer Fernando
https://spencerfernando.com/2024/11/20/ukraines-courage-strength-has-bought-the-free-world-time-to-prepare-for-war-its-time-for-us-to-stop-squandering-it/