The World Gets ‘War Weary’ in Ukraine
So, for America, it’s a ‘proxy war,’ as Ukraine fights off Russia’s attempt to take over a sovereign nation that threatens to move toward Europe and NATO membership.
Let’s not get sloppy about definitions in such a serious situation: “a proxy war is a military conflict in which one or more third parties directly or indirectly support one or more state or nonstate combatants in an effort to influence the conflict's outcome and thereby to advance their own strategic interests or to undermine those of their opponents.”
The Ukraine-Russian war fits that description as neatly as possible, as support in the West advances its own interests and—best of all—only requiring military arms and money. No troops required, thank you very much.
But American support is getting shaky, and the reasons test my patience
Think back a decade or two.
The U.S. fought in Vietnam for eight years, spent $276 billion and sent 58,220 American kids home in body-bags. Then, having learned nothing about the futility of suc…